Design
by aegean
Summary: Max, after finally learning to settle into a somewhat stable life with Logan is forced to deal with Manticore's original intent for her.
1. Default Chapter

Title: Design

Title: Design

Author: aegean

E-mail: aegean11@hotmail.com

Genre: Story Angst, Romance, Action-- Max/Logan shippery

Rating: R

Summary: This chapter takes place sometime after Female Trouble and Cape Haven.Max is at the top of the Space Needle thinking about the events of the last few days.

Disclaimer:Dark Angel is a Fox /Cameron/Eglee vehicle.I get no money.I do it for fun/practicePlease don't sue me.

Notes:This is my first chaptered fanfic.I have planned for 5 chapters—hopefully something like one a week but who knows.Please R&R.Good/Bad whatever.Advice.Anything works for me.

Prologue

Logan and Max had been working on a mission to stop some embezzlers.It had taken several weeks and many break-ins.Max was beginning to think there was nothing to be found despite the Informant Nets' information.She was getting ready to give up when the case finally broke.It resulted in the money being returned to the charity fund for homeless shelters and the need for Seattle's wealthy to have a celebratory ribbon cutting for the new shelters.They had no idea that Eyes Only had really cracked the case.They didn't care.They only knew that they wanted to a have party to publicly pat themselves on the back for their contributions.

Logan had been invited to the banquet because his family had contributed a substantial sum by most peoples standards.He didn't feel much like going because he knew most of those in attendance would be like his uncle.However, he eventually changed his mind and asked Max to accompany him.They had been spending so much time on the case and he thought she deserved a chance to see the results of all of her work.He knew that a lot of the people who had benefited from the shelters in the area would be in attendance.He figured she should actually come close to the people that she was helping.It wouldn't hurt him much either to get out and connect with the world at large, or at least Seattle's little corner of it.


	2. Confrontation

Title: Design

Author: aegean

E-mail: aegean11@hotmail.com

Genre: Story Angst, Romance, Action-- Max/Logan shippery

Rating: R

Summary: This chapter takes place sometime after Female Trouble and Cape Haven.Max is at the top of the Space Needle thinking about the events of the last few days.

Disclaimer:Dark Angel is a Fox /Cameron/Eglee vehicle.I get no money.I do it for fun/practicePlease don't sue me.

Notes:This is my first chaptered fanfic.I have planned for 5 chapters—hopefully something like one a week but who knows.Chapter 1 is a bit long, but I thought it really needed to be kept together.Please R&R.Good/Bad whatever.Advice.Anything works for me.

Chapter 1

Confrontation

'Well, it was bound to happen' Max thought.'At least I said it all.Probably too much but its done.Wonder how long it'll take him to come around.'

# Three Days Earlier

"Hey, I found a few of your tanks in my laundry.They're on the guest room bed.So,…" he said as he rolled out of his bedroom, "have you figured out what dress you want to wear?"He had still been getting dressed when she arrived.Max had come over unusually early that morning and just missed a potentially embarrassing situation with Logan.Max never knocked, but she would try to announce her presence by being a little louder when she picked the lock.Once she had seen him struggling to put on his pants quickly.She hated to embarrass him so she never told him what she saw, she just started giving him more warning.She had been sitting in the living room for a few minutes.

"No, I came to tell you that you should just pick one out for me.Sort of do the leg-work on this one.I 

have to work late today so I won't have a chance to look at anything before everything closes and I know how you are against my after hours activities."She shot him a coy smile and batted her eyes in such an obvious manner that Logan was forced to respond in kind with a feigned look of disapproval.He knew that she had given up most of her stealing habits for his sake. "Besides," she continued, "this should tell you how much I trust you.What woman would let a man have free reign over how she is going to look."She looked straight at him and then a look crossed her face as though she were questioning the sanity of her own words.She finally sighed and said, "oh, you'll probably do a better job than I will at picking something."

Logan smiled at this.He knew that she didn't care that much about fashion in general.She liked black, gray, and blue. They were pretty simple wardrobe choices.However, it was so rare that they went to anything formal that he knew she probably wanted to blend in more.He had actually done some research on the computer and downloaded some pictures of the inventory of local boutiques.He figured she could just sit down and pick one.But, since she wanted him to do it, he felt he could manage.He knew that only Max could get him to run this sort of errand. "I will…and might I add very reluctantly, take care of it for you.It'll give me a chance to pick up a few things.Pick you up at 6 tomorrow evening."Logan had planned to take her out to dinner and make a night of it.He was actually looking forward to the evening even if it meant he had to spend it in a room with hundreds of other people.

Logan went out and ended up at the same dress shop Max had stolen from.He was actually glad because when he wheeled in, the saleswoman recognized him.He had stopped by months earlier to pay for the stolen dress claiming there had been some sort of misunderstanding.He was very vague in his explanation.He had learned early on that if you flashed enough cash, many things could be over looked.

"Hello Mr. Cale.What can I help you with this afternoon," the woman asked as she walked toward him.

"I came in to pick up a dress for Miss Guevera.I tried to call earlier to have you set it aside, but the phone lines were malfunctioning again," a problem he figured Eyes Only should look into.

"Yes we've had trouble this morning.If you'll tell me which dress you were interested in, I'll go check to see if we have it."

"It was a midnight blue floor length gown with spaghetti straps."

"Well that was a thorough description."

"Yes well… in all honesty I did look at the little caption for the dress.But, now that I'm thinking about it, I don't know her exact measurements."He laughed to himself because he figured he should just by the mere fact that he looked at her so often.

"I believe I know the gown.And…you did say this was for Miss Guevera," she said emphasizing the name as she walked over to her files.Logan nodded."Well then her measurements shouldn't be a problem.The other dress fit her well, correct?"

"Yes, as I recall, it was perfect."

"Then we have the records for that dress on file, know the size, and can alter the length of this gown accordingly.It should work out all right.We _usually_ like to have the customer come in for a fitting, but we've done it this way for other gentlemen with success.As long as the woman has been in once, all they have to do is call in, give us the name and a few specifics and we do the rest."Logan knew that the saleswoman believed that Max was just another decorative escort.Many of the men in town had several 'lady friends' on their accounts at various boutiques.The saleswoman probably thought Max was his.He was insulted by her insinuation but let it go.

"That was completely painless," he said."I will also need the purse and shoes and anything else I haven't thought of."

"No problem.I can have the alterations completed by tomorrow morning.Will Miss Guevera be picking everything up?"

"No, I'd like it sent to her apartment tomorrow afternoon."He knew how it looked.The request only reinforced the sales woman's beliefs, but he figured it would be easier for Max to be able to just go home and change after work without worry.So, with the unfortunate impression having already been created Logan went ahead and arranged to have a dozen roses sent as well since he knew that they would surprise Max. 

As he was escorted to the door, the saleswoman looked at him and said, "Mr. Cale, Miss Guevera's trust in your ability to handle what some men would consider the most difficult task in the world, was not unfounded.From what I've seen here today, she will look lovely and is very lucky."She smiled and Logan thanked her and left the store.He paged Max and when she called back, he told her what he had done, leaving out the part about the roses.She thought his plan was good and she told him that she would see him the next day.

_

Max woke up early the next morning because she wanted to get to Jam Pony on time so that she could leave on time.She arrived and Normal was barking out orders.She saw Original Cindy and decided to avoid Normal for as long as possible.Cindy was over at her locker changing for some runs."Hey girl," she said to Original Cindy,"what's up?" 

"Usual.Came in early to get the 411 on the new honey Normal hired yesterday."Cindy looked over in the direction of a dark haired twenty year-old woman named Lana.They made eye contact and Cindy gave her a head nod.Lana smiled back."My days looking' up," Cindy said.She then turned and looked at Max as she remembered about the party that evening."So, you have any idea how your nights gonna play out?You in a beautiful dress him in a tux.Romantic.If you aren't banging the gong already then you will be by tonight.Think you can handle it?"Original Cindy was always too wrapped up in the idea of Max finally getting on her roller boy.

"Not wasting much time on the small today are we," Max said sarcastically trying to cover for the awkwardness she felt after listening to Cindy's predictions for the night."It's not like that anyway.It's a charity thing," she continued.

"Doesn't matter.You two are always in a different world when you're together."

"Really?"Max said after thinking about it for a few moments. 

"For real—for real for sure"

"I guess we're just really comfortable around each other.It's hard to hang with the people he knows because they don't think I'm one of _them_ and its hard for him to hang with us because he feels out of place.Alone, we seem to be evenly matched.I get a little more serious and he gets a little less.Its cool."Max actually felt as though she had adequately described her situation with Logan.She hoped that Cindy would just let it die.

"Uh huh.Don't intellectualize your relationship or the desire you have to get busy with your man.If, and that's a big if, I swung that way, I'd be all over it.I approve.He's good to you and hasn't asked for anything.And trust me its even better with someone you're really close to.Can't hurt to see where the night takes you."Cindy knew that things would happen in their own time.After all she was dealing with the two slowest people in Seattle.In 20 years, he'd still be paging her and she'd still be returning his calls speaking in secretive half sentences only to run over there for hours of sexual tension.They just didn't get the fact that they needed to be with each other because they had something unusually moving.Everyone wanted to see the two of them get together.Their relationship and loyalty gave many of their friends hope.

Max went on her daily runs and then took off for home.She continued to wonder about what Cindy had said.Maybe she was intellectualizing everything.Was it so bad to just think about things differently?She thought about it all the way home.'Maybe I should push a few things forward.'She went back to her apartment.She knew Cindy finished at Jam Pony early, was going home, and then off to Crash.She assumed she would be gone by the time she got in.

She walked into the apartment and went into her room.Sitting on her bed were three boxes.She knew the large box was the dress and the small box shoes.She had no idea what was in the longer box.She walked over to her bed, leaned over, and opened it.To her surprise, she found a dozen long stemmed white roses inside.There was also a note.

It read:

_ _

_Max_

_ _

_White roses have always signified pure beauty and intimate secrecy.I figured no other flower could better describe our relationship.See you later tonight._

_Logan_

_ _

She smiled as she read the card.She looked down at the other boxes and decided not to open them just yet.She wanted to keep the surprise going as long as possible.She turned and walked into the kitchen to begin boiling water.She reached over to turn on the faucet and before she knew what had happened, she was covered in water.The faucet head had broken.She went under the sink to turn off the water supply with one of her wrenches.At that point she knew there was no way to get ready at her place.She decided her only option was to take the dress and go over to Logan's and get ready there.She tried to call but she couldn't reach him.The phone lines kept cutting out.She figured he was probably sitting at his computer looking into the situation.She left a note for Cindy telling her the sinks state of affairs, and then left for Logan's.

-

She got to Foggle Towers in record time.She wanted to get to him before he left for her place.She took the elevator up, stepped out, and stopped in front of his door.She decided to knock just in case he was still getting ready.

"Who is it," he asked as he rolled to the door.

"Me," she said knowing her answer would suffice.She loved the informality of their relationship.

He opened the door and was shocked to see a very wet Max standing there."What the hell happened to you," was all he could manage to say at her appearance.

"I was about to get ready when a pipe burst in my apartment so, I came over here.Can I use your bathroom?I can be quick."She was just standing there holding the boxes.She looked like a defenseless wet animal.He wanted to laugh but he knew that could set her off.At that moment he knew what he had to do.

"Come in, take a shower, take a bath if you like," he said as he moved into the living room."Take your time.I**_ was_** going to take you out to dinner but I'll just whip something up here instead so you have time."There was something about the situation that put him at ease.It broke the impending ice that he felt would show up when he got to her apartment.The busted pipe had actually made things less nerve wracking.He would cook and she would eat.It was informal and homey the way they both liked but hated to admit out loud.

Max went into the guest room.She put the box down on the bed and went into the bathroom.She looked around and saw her favorite towel on the rack.Logan had bought it for her to use because she had liked the one he owned so much.In truth he had actually bought it because he got tired of his always being wet.She had fallen into the habit of swinging by to shower and change between Eyes Only missions always remembering to use his softest towel.She went to get her soap and shampoo and realized that she was nearly out of the latter and decided to borrow from Logan.She wrapped the towel around her body and ran over to the next room.She didn't knock because the door was partially open already and she figured he would be in the kitchen.She was about to run through the room to get the shampoo when she realized that Logan was there.She stopped short when she saw what he was doing.Having already taken off his jacket, shirt, and tie, he was sitting there preparing to remove his pants.Both of their faces turned beat red.

So much went through their heads.He was half undressed and she was only in a towel.They instinctively imagined all the possibilities in the few seconds that passed before Max blurted out, "Logan what are you doing?" She didn't much mind the sight, she just couldn't figure out its purpose. 

"I…I'm… about to cook so I need to get out of my formal wear," he stammered."You know it can get a little messy when I cook.Anyway, all good chefs get a little on them."

"So you're planning on spilling on your bare chest and then what --your gonna take a shower to clean up," she said as she regained her composure./That could be interesting./ The mischievous thought caused her to involuntarily bite down on her lower lip before continuing."Is that an approved cooking technique?" /Because if it is, I fully intended on spending more time in the kitchen with him./

"I was just going to change into a t-shirt and sweats," he said with a smile that seemed to relay the words 'bad girl' to Max who had become flush.Logan was intrigued by her reaction but wasn't prepared to pursue it further."What did you need anyway," he said as he went back to the task at hand.

Max, whose eyes were locked on his chest, almost didn't hear what he had said.All she could manage as a response was, "huh, oh, shampoo"./huh, I say huh?Could I be more obvious?/She knew how it must have seemed so she just ran into his bathroom and grabbed what she needed.She came out and went back to her bathroom without looking back at him.

Logan finished changing and went into the guest room.He took his robe with him.He laid it on the bed by the unopened box and wondered why she hadn't looked at the dress."Max," he called to her through the door, "I left a robe on the bed for you just in case you don't want to put the dress on until after dinner."Max smiled when she heard him through the door.She yelled a 'thanks' back to him.

About forty-five minutes later Max got out of the bath.She went into the room to finish toweling off and brush out her hair.She noticed that her wet clothes were gone./He must have put them in the wash.I really do leave a lot here./She rubbed her hand over the robe he had left, took it up into her hands, and put it on./Nice…it smells like him./She sat on the bed to cool off.She always took extremely hot showers.She got up and dried her hair.She applied a flesh colored patch to cover her barcode remembering to let a few tendrils of hair hang down in the back when she styled her hair to finish covering up the area.The patches were good, but not perfect.The hair helped.After finishing, she stepped out into the hall and then went into the kitchen.She saw Logan standing there putting the finishing touches on some baked honey mustard chicken with vegetables he had whipped up.

Logan looked up and saw her in his robe looking so natural and at ease in it.After a moment, he realized he was staring and said, "I hope your bath was pleasant."

"Mmm, it was.Especially after that damn pipe incident…I smell honey mustard.You're makin' my favorite Cale Family Recipe.Let me see that's 2 tablespoons of honey mustard,6 teaspoons ofolive oil, with a dash of…"

"So," he said with a smile as he cut her off, "you do listen when I tell you what's in each recipe."

"Uh-huh," she said as she proudly sat on the counter.I've grown so accustomed to your cooking that now I must learn the recipes to my favorites.What if in 30 years you start to forget what's in everything?I'll be there to remind you."/Thirty years?…eating dinner together?What am I saying?/"But the real question here is do you listen when I tell you about maintenance for my Ninja?"

"Always.What was it you said righty-tighty, lefty-losey?"He turned to serve the plates.A look of utter disappointment crossed her face when she realized that he didn't listen to her prattle on about her baby.Logan noticed her reaction and laughed to himself./She's giving me that look.I'd better fix this before she kills me./He pretended to roll by her but suddenly stopped looked directly at her and said, "Oh, and of course, always get black market engine parts for your baby from Penny on 5th street because they're a higher quality.Always use a low polymer oil.And the Kawasaki Ninja 250 with its - is it 55.1 inch wheel base, is better than the comparable Yamaha 250."He flashed one of his irresistible grins.Max's face brightened.She shook her head and lightly kicked the wheel of his chair.He rolled back a little and they both started to laugh.She picked up the plates and he followed her to the table.

He served the food and they began to eat.She finished quickly and got up to leave the table."You'll have to let me finish now.I would love to sit and talk but it will take me a little time to finish.I may be genetically enhanced but that doesn't make me any faster at getting through all the stuff that goes along with formal events."She was not looking forward to the task at hand.

"We could just stay here," he called out after her."We're closer to being dressed for a night in rather than a night out."He smiled at as he looked at himself in sweats and her in his robe.

"I know," she replied as she turned to face him."At this point I sort of just want to stay here at home."/Home?/Immediately following that statement, she wanted to take it back./How in the hell could I refer to Logan's apartment as home?/She looked over at his face and realized the statement had not been lost on him.She decided her only course of action was to pretend as though nothing had happened."But, I am actually looking forward to putting on the dress you picked out, and once that's done there's no turning back.

"Ok."He decided to let her comment slide."Hey, I wanted to ask you why you haven't opened the box yet."

"Well, at first I wanted to wait till the last possible moment.I had no idea what you chose and I liked the mystery.Then when I knew I had to come over here, I decided that it would be fun to see your face when I put it on.I mean after all the dress is your choice.Don't you want to be there for the unveiling?"She knew she was being slightly flirtatious but she didn't care.She wasn't accustomed to formals.The only one she had been to was his cousins wedding.She didn't exactly hit any proms or dances growing up.In fact when she thought of her childhood and adolescence, she was surprised that she was a functional adult."Logan you should go get dressed and I'll go finish up and call you when I'm done."He nodded as he turned away.Just as she was about to disappear behind the door she said, "Oh and Logan," he turned around, "don't forget to shave."And she was gone.

Half an hour later Max called Logan's name and instructed him to wait in his favorite room.She was joking about his obsession with his computer room.He knew this, but couldn't help himself from saying, "I cant, my favorite room is whatever room you're in."His corny remark made even him smile.

"Oh!…what a line," she yelled back."Just wait near my door."He did as he was told.

Seconds later, she came out of the door in what seemed like slow motion.The dress fit perfectly.It was elegant and sexy.Every inch of material picked up every curve that was to be accentuated.It was the perfect length and color.The style was flattering and he had specifically chosen a dress with a side slit because he knew it would allow her to move more freely.He knew she hated anything that restricted her movement.Logan couldn't believe that everything had worked out so perfectly.He was happy that she liked the dress and that he hadn't totally screwed up such a sensitive mission.Everything was perfect.No words could do justice, however, he felt the awkwardness of the moment and decided to break it up a bit.He simply rolled over to her, took her hand, kissed it, and in a dashing manner said, "May I have the honor of taking the most beautiful genetically enhanced," she shot him and evil look, "princess.I was going to say may I have the honor of taking the most beautiful genetically enhanced princess to the ball."

She smiled and understanding that he was trying to lighten the intensity of the moment, said, "But of course my most charming meal ticket."

The banquet hall had all the usual suspects.The elite of Seattle were present patting themselves on the back.Max was sickened by the display.She knew that they had only given money to ease their consciences, not out of any sense of civic duty.The only good times were when some of the people who had been helped spoke about returning the favor and new things they were going to work on.The people who had the least were prepared to do the most and this made her feel that the work wasn't an act of futility.

The speeches ended after some time and everyone began to dance and mingle.Max was hanging back talking to Logan about new things they could do to ensure there would be no further embezzling.They were making a list of the people Eyes Only should keep an eye on.They discussed the situation with the phone lines because many executives for Seatel, the company that owned the rights to Seattle's phone lines were there flashing a lot of cash.All in all, they were having a decent time.In fact, the only unfortunate aspect of the evening was when she left Logan's side.Other people who knew Logan wanted to introduce her to more of Seattle's elite.She had been seen with Logan enough times for people to believe that she would be around for a while.They were always trying to figure out what her angle was- they just assumed she was after his money.That didn't really matter to them.They were ultimately more interested in finding out whether her interests at all aligned with theirs.She hated being forced to leave the ease of Logan's company but did it for the sake of keeping up some appearances.However, she did let her feelings towards a few people creep out. It got tedious rather quickly because every time she was introduced to an unattached man, they would try to persuade her to dance with them.It wasn't a particularly surprising situation, but she consistently made it clear that she would rather sit with Logan.The men didn't listen and by the end of the evening, she had politely turned down over a dozen men.She couldn't figure out why they wouldn't take 'no' for an answer.She thought it would actually come to blows with some of the more inebriated ones to get them to back off.

This state of affairs was not lost on Logan. Each time he saw a new man approach her he felt a tug at his pride.He knew he couldn't ask her to dance anytime soon.He wondered why she didn't just accept a few offers.He hated to see her just sit with him.She was vibrant and beautiful and she had a spark that everyone could see.He wanted her to enjoy herself.He knew that she enjoyed his company, but sometimes he couldn't help feel that spending time with him was like sitting around waiting for your own muscles to atrophy.He couldn't stand it.His mood had gotten so bad that he stopped speaking to people.He just sat at the table while conversation happened around him.

Max had noticed his mood change but, it wasn't until the car ride home, that she decided to bring it up.She had a vague idea what the problem was but didn't want to jump to conclusions./It's always the same argument.He'll tell me that he feels like half a man and I'll tell him that it isn't true.Then he'll get over it until the next time something happens./She tried to talk to him the entire ride back but he insisted on sulking and then he suddenly told her that he thought she only stuck around because she pitied him.

When they returned to his apartment, he unlocked the door and waited for her to go in.She turned to speak to him and he rolled by without looking at her.She couldn't believe how childish he was being and so she decided to have it out with him. Sometimes his mood swings were worse than hers.However, she didn't have quite as much patience with his as he did with hers.

"Stop. Right. There," she said sternly and slowly as he rolled into the next room.

He turned to face her and said nothing.He just stared at her.His heart almost broke when he saw her because he knew that he was entirely too wrapped up in something that he could never complete.He knew that there was the possibility that he would not be able to spend the rest of his life with her and at that moment, the hopelessness consumed him.

"Ahhhhh.I'm so tired of all the talk about only being half a man."

So consumed in self-pity he snapped back"I can't dance with you.I can't do a lot of things for you.I can't even walk over to you so forgive me if I just can't take it sometimes."He sounded so hurt and helpless when he spoke.With that comment, Max wanted to regain her calmness, but couldn't reign her temper in. 

"You seem to think that I actually give a **_damn_** about the fact that you're in that chair.Do you really think I'm that shallow?Believe me I'm not.Remember where I came from.I've seen people with so many problems, your chair pales in comparison.What… you think that just because you can't feel anything below the waist that you are not a whole man?Believe me that's not the measure of a true man anymore than breasts and beauty are the measure of a woman.You should know that by now and if you don't, you have a very shallow grasp of the sexes."The comment about breast and beauty was a veiled reference to Val and Logan's having been betrayed by her and they both knew it.There was a woman who had a body and good looks and was not in Max's opinion what a real woman should have been.She was also certain that many of Logan's female friends had been similar to Val. /Maybe he really doesn't know that there are women who look beyond the superficial.No.He's too smart to not know.He's just pitying himself./"Logan, I see women throw themselves at you even in the chair.Like tonight.Every time I left you this evening my seat did not go cold.Clearly the chair is not an issue."She was beginning to lose complete control but chose to reign it in and try a different approach.She chose something that she learned form Logan.She tried complete honesty for his benefit./I made it clear that I expect it of him.I should be willing to try it too./ Better late than never she figured.

"Logan," she began slowly after a deep breath, "I need you to listen to every word I'm about to say without interruption."She looked down at him to see his response.She was standing there in the near darkness prepared to delve into some of her deepest feelings and she needed to know that he was with her.These were feelings she had never allowed herself to dwell on."Logan," she snapped, "did you hear me?"

"Yes."

"What I'm about to say I think you really should hear.I think that your hearing it is more important than my fear of saying it…more important than my fear of losing control over what I'm saying this very moment."She began to get quieter yet her voice found a steadiness she did not know she could muster in the situation."And you know I hate to lose control."She was full of such compassion and yet such intense heartache.He had to pay attention, despite his desire to shutdown.His silent acquiescence told Max he was finally really prepared to listen.

"When we first met, you had me stare into the mirror with you.Then…staring with you and at you staring at me…I fell into your life and I knew I would have to return to you.I did and I eventually fell into your arms," she paused, "and it was at that point I knew I would be a permanent fixture in your life as you would be in mine."She stopped again.She couldn't figure out her thoughts.She was just speaking.Her mind was nothing but a white haze --her own fogbank.But, without letting it stop her, she continued. "It felt safe and it felt normal.It felt as though that was the way things were supposed to be.I don't know where it's taking us and ..."She paused again and then regained some ability to continue.

"Let me start again.I know that you must know by now that you are attractive man.I'm sure many women have stroked that ego of yours by telling you.And frankly, I don't disagree with them.You are attractive."Logan didn't smile.He didn't move.He knew that she was not simply trying to stroke his ego to cheer him up.It wasn't her style."However, to me, it isn't your looks, your ability to stand, or your ability to bed a woman that makes you truly appealing.Do you really think that is all there is to it?"It was a rhetorical question, but she needed the moment to get her thoughts straight.She wanted her next words to be stated perfectly.She was beginning to get numb and she could see that he still had no visible reaction./Is he in shock or something?Maybe I should stop.No!For once I have to finish what I've started./He didn't seem to be responding and she was beginning to lose her composure again.Yet, she remained steady for his sake as he had done for her in the past.

"What makes you attractive, appealing, sexy –I don't know you chose the word…what makes you all of those things is how remarkably caring you are.How stable people feel in your presence and in your arms. What makes you sexy to me is how compassionate you are toward so many people.A lot of the time without thanks and yet you still continue.You try to teach me that everyday.It's about how when I disagree with you, I have no fear of being shot down.And you know I mean literally as well as figuratively.You hold your ground but you never try to break me.You'll never turn around and walk away./Dammit!You're blowing it.Oh whatever, hopefully he's stopped pitying himself long enough to really understand what I'm saying./"Not for long at least."/Was that a smile that crossed his face?/"What makes you those words I mentioned before… and they are just words --is thatno matter how much you care about other people, you will still always take the time to listen to me, and worry about me,and care about me, and make me feel like I am the most important thing in your life."

"Logan Cale you are incredibly steadying to me and I'm not just talking about the way you hold me still during a seizure.You are everything that my life wasn't when I was in Manticore." The statement was made as though it were the most obvious fact in the world, yet her tone was pleading with him to believe it."I honestly almost don't regret Manticore because it brought me to you.You never force me to do anything and you're always completely natural and never sterile.You handle my mood swings with understanding and my family problems with patience."Max knew that she still wasn't getting it quite right.She knew her thoughts were somewhat disjointed.She knew emotional outburst were untidy, but she never realized how much so.But, this was not a two-part conversation and as poorly as she had muddled her way through things thus far, she knew she had to get to the end.She decided that she should tell him something she had already planned to let him know one day. She just never planned to do it like this but she was already walking the path."But, Logan…I would say that your fear is probably the sexiest thing about you."She paused for a moment to look at him before she continued."You're afraid of the unknown just as much as I am.That's why we both need control.We're so afraid of the future.You're afraid that you may not walk and I'm afraid that you won't allow me to care and make my own decisions when it comes to you.I'm afraid you'll shut me out.You're afraid of losing me over the chair and I'm afraid of losing you over that **_damn_** chair.We share the same fear.You're the only person in the world that could understand that."

"And the only reason why I use the word sexy is because you seem to equate being a man with sex.And I want you to know that it so much more than that.I've met all kinds of men who can bed women.Some of these men also beat women and use women and a number of other horrible things. They… are not real men."Logan knew that these were very personal experiences that she was talking about and understood how hard this speech was for her.It was at this point he really began to realize that she had intended to stick it out with him…to be with him.He had no idea she was going to be so intense.He let her continue without interruption.

"Logan, even if nothing ever comes of this, the intimacy that we have right here, right now…well, I am right now closer to you than I have been to any other man in my life.Logan, you have to understand that you are a man in all the ways that most men will never be.Ever.You give me more pleasure…"Max paused so that she could word it perfectly.She continued the thought with, "more pleasure, in letting me get close enough to share my messed up life with you, than I have ever had.If anyone should feel bad about the situation here it should be me.Because if you want to quantify pleasure with what's below the waist I may never be able to give back to you what you think you have to give to me.Men aren't the only ones who have issues with their… prowess.I'm not going to deny that your condition may pose a bit of a…challenge.In Manticore, the girls learned at an early age that in certain situations men were excellent targets because they were easily satisfied.So, if I can't make it happen, then I've failed.Only in this case, I will have failed you.Yeah, you heard me.I'm a little worried about _that_ situation in the future… especially with you feeling this way."At that moment she forced herself to bite down on her tongue./Uhhh…why did I say that.I didn't have to be that honest. God…whatever…its already out there… /She had just a few more things to say to wrap up her confession./Why not tell him of my simple little thoughts about the future...can't really do much more damage./So, in a relatively resigned tone, at least resigned for Max, she simply said, "If…no, when, when our relationship got to that point, I was hoping that we would be so far past this issue that we would be able to focus on more challenging aspects."Max's resolve had broken and she had nothing more to say.She had purged every emotion and was left feeling rather empty.She looked down at her feet and then she looked up.Before she looked into Logan's eyes, before she got lost in the still blue sea of color, she said,"Lets face it Logan Cale, I would take you any way I could get you.Everyone else can see that…why can't you?"She looked up and directly into his eyes again and felt cold, her knees suddenly feeling as though they were going to buckle beneath her weight.She was now fully aware of the defeatist tone of her final words and adrenaline that was still coursing through her body and it was dizzying.She hated acutely her senses were now registering everything.She wanted to both run over comfort, and be comforted by him./I can't.This is about his issues not mine.God, I've let myself get so weak.Even if I returned to Manticore they would probably have to destroy me.No amount of reprogramming could fix this./She had nothing left to say and couldn't quite grasp the implications of what had happened in the last five minutes.She just stood there.It wasn't until a chill crossed her body that she began to feel again.She knew she would really have to think about it later so she decided to just wait until she was back at home.She didn't know what she would do and she didn't know how to handle Logan's response.She just wanted to let it sit in the air.The silence was absolutely deafening.She knew she had to leave.She also knew that he had her number and that when he was ready he would call.

# Space Needle

'Well, it was bound to happen.At least I said it all.Probably too, much but its done.I just didn't see it coming.Wonder how long it'll take him to come around?'

That's chapter one.Please R&R.Thanks.


	3. Reconciliation

chapter2

Title: Design

Author: aegean

E-mail: aegean11@hotmail.com

Genre: Story Angst, Romance, Action-- Max/Logan shippery

Rating: R

Summary: This chapter takes place sometime after Female Trouble and Cape Haven.Max is at the top of the Space Needle thinking about the events of the last few days.

Disclaimer:Dark Angel is a Fox /Cameron/Eglee vehicle.I get no money.I do it for fun/practicePlease don't sue me.

Notes:This is my first chaptered fanfic.I have planned for 5 chapters—hopefully something like one a week but who knows.Chapter 2 took me a while to work through.I hope you guys like it..Please R&R.Good/Bad whatever.Advice.Anything works for me.

Chapter 2

Reconciliation

Logan just sat there in silence for what seemed like hours reliving the events of the past few days --few hours.He couldn't figure out how things had gone from near perfection to the scene that had just occurred.He could only sit, staring at the door that Max had just closed.Her parting words at least left him some hope, but they also told him that things would never be the same. 

The sincerity, passion, and frustration in every word she uttered had overwhelmed him.She didn't care about his situation.She only knew that she needed him.He knew that admission was particularly difficult for her.She spoke of the fear that they both shared.She even told him that she knew that she would be with him.And, as he sat there thinking of everything she had said he became ill.He could only think of how he had treated her.

"God Logan, what's wrong with you," he said through a clenched jaw into the darkness.He remained still for a few more moments and then willed himself to move.He got as far as the middle of the living room before stopping again, consumed by thought./She turned down every man who asked to dance with her in favor of spending time with me.She didn't do it out of pity, dammit, she did it out of respect, friendship, and love./He continued increasingly helpless as his anger mounted.Functioning solely on auto-pilot, he wheeled himself through his room and into the bathroom, still trying to understand everything./She is so strong.She could kill a man if she wanted to, and yet she has known so many men who have hurt her./He didn't know why he was in the bathroom, but in a dazed manner, he reached for a glass on the sink and filled it with water./Lydecker and Manticore hurt her physically but others who beat their children and drank themselves into violence, hurt her hopes for finding anyone decent in the future./His hand began to grip the glass with more force./_But still, she seeks out a normal future and finds what she thinks is a normal man, but he turns out to be completely absorbed in self-pity_…I let her down completely and still she cares.She stood in the hallway of my home, a home which she almost considers her own, and told me that she would take me anyway she could get me./And at that final thought, the pressure that Logan had slowly applied to the glass became too great and the glass gave way.It broke into three shards, one of which cut him.He looked down at his bleeding hand and stared for a moment.He felt nothing.Finally, he reached for the peroxide in the medicine cabinet and doused his hand with it.He then grabbed a washcloth and hastily wrapping it around his hand left the bathroom.

He thought that he should call her, but he didn't know what he could possibly say to make things right.Besides, she expected him to just take some time and think about everything./God she knows me so well.She probably wouldn't answer a page now anyway.No phones at the top of the Space Needle./

In his bedroom, on his bed, he saw the discarded robe Max had been wearing earlier.He picked it up and held it close noticing their mingled scents within the material.He suddenly threw it across the room."How could I be so wrapped up in myself?God I'm an idiot," he mumbled into the darkness.He sat there in silence for some time before managing to take off his clothes and climb into bed.He wanted to sit and think about everything, but he was so angry and so drained, he ended up falling asleep.His only decision was that he would deal with it in the morning when he was thinking clearly.

--

Max sat at the top of the Space Needle and waited for the sun to come up.She knew she would have to deal with Cindy's questions sooner or later but the new day would make it a little easier to get it over with.When daybreak came she left.

She walked into her apartment and thought she was in the clear.She crept quietly to her bedroom and fell onto the bed.She hadn't realized how tired she was.She could actually use the two hours of sleep she was about to get.Just as she was about to drift off, Cindy came into the room and sat at the edge of her bed.

"So?"

"So…what," Max replied groggily.

"Damn, you guys find a way to screw things up every time," Cindy said shaking her head.

"I really don't want to discuss my night right now," Max said as she turned her head to face Cindy.

"OK, but if he hurt you boo, he and I are gonna have words."

"You know I'd bring on the hurt if he ever touched me," she said flatly as she rolled onto her back.

"Now you know that ain't the hurt Original Cindy's talkin'bout."Cindy reached over and began stroking Max's hair in a comforting way.She remained that way for a few seconds before Max spoke again.

"Really, I'm fine…I just need some sleep right now.I'll see you in a few."The withdrawn nature of her words told Cindy that she needed more time.

Max tried to close her eyes again, but eventually sat up on her bed unable to sleep.She sensed something was different.Looking over to the old bureau against her wall, she saw the dozen white roses sitting there in a high glass jar.She immediately fell back against her bed and let out a sigh of exasperation as she remembered when she received them.

--

Max woke up three hours later.She climbed out of bed and decided that she needed another bath.'Two baths in two days,' she thought.'Talk about overindulgence.'She went into the kitchen to start the tedious process of boiling water and found Cindy sitting there eating breakfast.She walked past her and grabbed some bread.She went to turn on the water and remembered about the busted pipe.She gave up and they her head into her hands in defeat.

"I fixed the pipe last night," Cindy said in between bites as she watched the scene."You can wash."Max looked up at her and then grabbed the pot and began to fill it."So…you ready to tell Original Cindy about last night."

"No, but since you probably wont let it rest…We went out and had a good time until the end of the evening.He got depressed and then we got into a fight."

"About what?"Max didn't respond quickly enough, because Cindy began to formulate an answer to her own question."Wait…let me guess…something about the chair."Max still didn't look at her."Uh-huh, Original Cindy doesn't need you to tell me…he got depressed over the chair, got angry, took it out on you, and now my boo's depressed."

"Girl, I am not depressed," Max interjected, finally looking up."I told him he had to deal with his issues and then I left."She was finally getting her spirit back and was ready to talk.

"And now you're sulking."

"Look, he needs to deal with his own self-pity.I have enough issues of my own.I just told him that the chair doesn't matter to me.He really thought it did.Now, he needs to think about what that means.I can't help him with that."

"So now what?"

"I don't know," she said as her voice dropped off again."I told him to call me when he was ready."

"Think he will.I mean men are like that.All that pride makes them stupid.That's one of the reasons Original Cindy has nothing to do with them."Max continued to boil her water while Cindy discussed the finer points of male pride.During this time, Max decided that her best course of action with Logan was to follow what she said and just wait until he came around.She couldn't approach him because he needed to be ready to move forward on his own.

Max took her bath and then went back into the kitchen.Cindy said a few more things about men and Max finally had to walk over and say, "well despite all their issues I still kind of like 'em.They can be useful for a few things."She paused for a second, "really only three things," and then turned and left the kitchen without further explanation.

--

"Logan," Bling said loudly as he walked into the apartment."I'm giving you fair warning just in case you have company and are still entertaining."Bling figured that Logan was probably alone, be he knew that Logan and Max had gone out the evening before and hoped maybe they had come to an understanding."But that doesn't mean you can get out of your therapy this morning."

Logan woke up when he heard Bling's voice.He had completely forgotten about his session and wanted no part of it.However, before he could respond, Bling was at his door.

"Ah, too bad, you're alone.So why aren't you out of bed. You have no excuse to be in it."

"Go away.I don't feel like it today."

"Ah, apparently the night did not end well."Bling went to Logan's bureau and threw him a shirt."So…what did you do?Please tell me you didn't ask her to jump out of her evening gown to go on an Eyes Only mission."

"Why do you always assume its my fault."

"Well, wasn't it?"

"Well…yes, but there were extenuating circumstances."

"Right.You say that a lot.So what happened?"Bling waited a moment for a response, but, when Logan said nothing, he turned to leave.

"I... its just that…well… she's a healthy beautiful woman and I have nothing to give her."

"I see and what did she say when you told her this…because I assume you did."

"She told me that I was basically and idiot and that she needed me and wanted me as I am."He turned his face toward the window."She told me she would take me any way she could get me."There was a long pause."Oh God I was such an idiot last night."

"Yeah, sounds like it.And, if you've given me any indication of how you can get when you're feeling sorry for yourself, then I would have to agree that you were probably an idiot."

"How do I fix this," he said as he turned back to look at Bling.

"What did she say?"

"She told me that I should call her when I get over my pity."

"Well…sounds like she still wants to make whatever it is you two have work. My advice, whatever you do, don't call her now.You clearly haven't dealt with anything yet."

"I know.But what should I _do_?I can't lose her."

"For starters, you can quit being so melodramatic about everything."Bling hadn't meant to be so blunt, but he just couldn't help it.Sometimes Logan, if you're thinking that you can get her something or cook her dinner to make it better…don't.There is no quick fix.You can only _do_ what she asks, and that will take time.Find a way to not pity yourself and realize that you are a very lucky man.Think about the person you are and the person she is and spend this time learning to trust her feelings about you.She obviously trusts your feelings about her or she definitely wouldn't have bothered.The girl doesn't strike me as one who lets her emotions get the better of her at the drop of a hat.If she said those things to you, then they're for real."Bling paused to make sure Logan was still with him. Then he continued,"Ultimately, I think you're gonna need her help with this, but for now, you both need time."

"Time…right.Look Bling, I really don't want to…"

"You have to work out," Bling interrupted"Don't pity yourself man.That's not a step forward."Logan decided that further protest would be useless so he submitted to an afternoon of physical therapy.He reasoned that it would take his mind of Max for a while.

--

The week was long.Max went to work, went to Crash, and then went home.She raced her bike through the streets at night and checked her pager throughout the day.She hadn't seen or heard from Logan.She began to think that she had pushed him too far.He had never been out of contact for any great length of time.Even when she brought him the dirt on Valerie, he wasn't distant for long.

Logan spent that week researching Seatel and fighting the urge to call Max.He had been thinking a lot about what Bling had said and spent many hours envisioning his future with Max and the chair.He slowly began to realize that a life with Max, even in the chair, was better than a life without her.He discovered that his insecurities were more of a detriment than the chair ever could be and that he would have to acknowledge that if he wanted to be with her.It took only three days to get to that point.In fact, the harder part for him was figuring out the right way to approach her.In the end, he settled on simple honesty, no dramatic flourishes, _no_ food. 

--

"Boo, I'm goin' out to hang with Lana…whatcha gonna do today."

"Nothing, I think I'll just hang out here."

"I'm worried about you boo," Cindy said as she poked her head into Max's room.

"I'm cool."Max was laying on the bed in pajama shorts and a t-shirt staring in the general direction of her flowers.

"Aiight."Cindy grabbed her bag and walked over to the front door.She opened it and turned to leave almost falling over Logan just as he was about to knock.She shook her head at him and then stepped in to the hall.

"I know what went down.I also know I told you that if you ever hurt her I would kick your ass.So what do you have to say for yourself."

"Well, as long as you let me put the flowers down before you kick my ass, I'd say that I deserve everything you dish out."

"You know that chair wont stop me from doing it."

"I would hope not," he said with a half smile."I'm told that it doesn't really matter that I'm in the chair.If you didn't kick my ass, I would consider it an insult."At that statement, Cindy for a flicker of a second could see why Max liked him.

"Man, I knew you were strange, always said that to Max, but now you might be crazy."

"Yeah well a week without Max can do that to a person."

"Uh-huh," she said slowly, "so I guess you want to get inside and give her those flowers."

"Yeah," he replied cheeks blushing a bit. Then, he looked back up at Cindy."So, how's she been?"

"Well, I'll show you," she said stepping back into the apartment."Don't say anything just head to her room."

"OK" he said half-questioningly and half worried.

"Boo I'm taking off.Don't spend all day in bed waiting for roller boy to call."

"I've never done anything so pathetic."There was a long pause and Logan who was near Max's door looked back at Cindy who just shrugged.As she turned to finally leave, Max yelled, "I just don't understand why he hasn't called."

"Couldn't, phones don't work."A chill went through Max's body when she heard his voice.She sat up on her bed and saw him in the doorway.She heard the front door close and realized she was alone --with Logan.

They stared at each other for a few seconds.Logan looked at her sitting on the bed and then realized he was staring.He broke contact and his eyes darted across her room trying to buy some time before he was forced to speak again.His eyes stopped on the flowers in the vase on her bureau.He didn't really know where to start with her so he began there.

"You still have the flowers."It was more a statement of surprise rather than a question.

"Yeah, I figured if you didn't call before they died then we were going to have serious problems," she said flatly while staring at the flowers, still unprepared to look at him. 

"Well then I'm glad I came when I did.I've brought reinforcements."Logan handed her a dozen yellow roses.She took them and laid them on her bed and turned back to really look at him.He hadn't really changed, still sported stubble and bed-head./Figures he wouldn't shave before coming over./But something was different about him.There seemed to be a little more life in his eyes and it gave her the urge to let everything go.The desire to just pull him next to her was overwhelming.I reminded her of how she felt that terrible day that he almost ended it all.She wanted him near her then too.But, things hadn't changed then and this time she knew better.She knew that in order for things to change--really change, then they had to talk everything out as Logan and Max, not Eyes Only and the x-5.

"I've missed you," he began quickly.Max began to respond but Logan stopped her."Before you say anything, just let me get this out."Max nodded her head in compliance."Thanks.Ok… I'm not going to make any excuses for my behavior because I seem to do that a lot."Max sat listening to him silently."You've forced me to come to terms with more things in the past week than I have in the past several months.I am in a chair right now and duration of time in the chair aside, for now, it is a fact that I have to accept.However, just because I accept that fact doesn't mean that I have to give up the hope of walking."Logan became increasingly more comfortable with his own words."I thought for the longest time that if I allowed myself to accept the chair, I would have to give up the hope of walking along with the hope of you.I was like that as a child…all or nothing.I was as wrong then as I am now.I was an idiot the night of the party…I've been an idiot for months and I know it.You've been by my side proving with every action that you care, and I still threw my anger and resentment about my situation in your face.I have never been more sorry about anything in my life."He reached out and touched her hand."I will change."

Max just smiled and placed her free hand above his.It was all she needed to do to let him know that he was forgiven.In truth, she had forgiven him days ago, but she knew that he needed some sort of acknowledgement of that fact.The drama of that night one week ago had been worth it.She really hadn't been prepared for the confessional nature of his apology. The part about his childhood had intrigued her.She tried to picture Logan as a kid living his life like that.It explained his unwavering sense of right and wrong.She figured it was what allowed him to create Eyes Only, but it probably also made him the family outcast.She realized then that she knew so little about the man's childhood.She suddenly had an overwhelming desire to understand where he came from so that she knew why he was the way he was.Maybe his issues weren't just about the chair.

They started to really talk, and as the verbal intimacy level rose, Max's thoughts began to plague her./I want him here with me, not over there in the chair.Maybe I can just will him to move to the bed.Heh-heh…I should just pull him over…no, he'll probably freak out and say he has to go or something.Why do I always have to be the one to start things.He'll never ask after just having apologized.To much pride to ask to be near me.Oh screw it…I'm gonna make it hard for him to run this time./Finally, deciding that she wanted to be closer to him, Max took action.While Logan was still talking, she stood up, walked behind the wheelchair, and pushed it closer to the bed.

"What are you doing" he said as his eyes followed her.

"Making it easier for you to climb on the bed," she said as she set the breaks on the chair.

"Now?"

"Relax…I just decided that I wanted to sit with you that's all."

At first Logan hesitated at her request.He had spent the last few months wishing for the scene before him, and now that it was happening, in classic Logan Cale style, he found himself conflicted.He knew he would never have been able to ask her to climb onto his bed for a chat.It would have been awkward and he never wanted it to seem like he was trying to take emotional advantage of her.Max had to be the one to ask for more intimacy.He knew she eventually would, and when she did, he would have to be ready to act on it.He just never thought it would be so soon.But, after a few more seconds of consideration, he realized that when it came to Max, he was just going to have to throw himself into most things.It was part of the promise he had made to himself.So, he accepted her offer and climbed onto the old bed, lied down next to her, and continued to talk.

For the most part she listened to him talk about his childhood and the things he used to do and how he loved his mother.Every once in a while she would ask him questions about things that he did that she didn't understand.She had many problems adapting to some of the things normal kids did when she was confronted with them after the escape.She didn't really understand other children and the joy they felt when they played games.

Max on schedule got hungry in the middle of the afternoon and insisted on making a late lunch.There was only peanut butter and jelly in the apartment so she made sandwiches.She was a little embarrassed by the lack of food she had to offer.He didn't care.He just laughed at told her that the sandwiches didn't make them even where cooking was concerned.

--

"So, what does yellow mean?"

"Excuse me?"

"The flowers.White was the intimate secret.So, what's yellow?"

"Oh, well yellow is…for friendship.I wasn't sure where we stood so I went with the safe bet."/Good she smiled.She's not disappointed in their meaning.Wait…is this all she wants now./

"What about the other colors?"

"Well, red is for love and respect and pink is for romance."

"Is that it?"

"Yeah, white, red, pink, yellow- those are the basics."

Max stared at the ceiling thinking about the meaning./He can't really think we're still only at friendship.He reads women so badly!/

--

A few hours later, Logan looked out of Max's window and realized it was almost dark.He knew he would have to leave soon because things had become too comfortable in her room.They were lying next to each other on the same bed having just made up from a week of fighting.Even though this was Max and they had never done anything physical, he couldn't help but think of Max as he remembered what happened with Valerie when they fought hard and then made up.But nothing had been discussed between he and Max, and quite frankly, he just wasn't mentally or physically ready to be intimate with her.He needed more time to figure out what that meant for him so he prepared to leave."It's late, I should probably go now," he said in a controlled tone as he lifted his body and moved toward the edge of the bed.She rolled onto her side to face him, confused by his sudden desire to flee.

"Yeah…you should probably go," she said reluctantly in a whisper as she gently tapped her index finger against her lips.She moved closer to him.She didn't want him to go but couldn't think of a reason for him to stay.

"I…I mean, I've been here a while and…well…it looks like rain"

"Yeah…all afternoon…Seattle and rain- go figure," she said as she rolled slightly to face him repositioning her hips in his direction.She continued to think of reasons for him to stay.All plausible excuses rushed through her head, but nothing seemed right.By this time, Logan was ready for the transfer from the bed to his chair and just as he was about to move, Max in a last ditch effort grabbed his hand and pulled him back.That simple act set into motion something she wasn't sure she could finish but was already too committed to stop herself.She looked into his eyes and without breaking contact, pressed his hand firmly against her warm bare skin."You _can_ touch me," she said suddenly giving him permission to do what he had wanted to since she could remember.She swallowed silently, her nervousness making her throat dry.She was trapped in the moment by her actions and the anxiety that she felt caused her to become dizzy.She had missed him, and wanted him, but she was afraid.They hadn't discussed any of the potential hazards, so all of her fears form a week earlier were still firmly engrained.She was running the risk of ruining all the progress they had made simply because she couldn't just _ask_ him to stay.

Logan slowly began to move his hand against the flesh of her perfect belly.After a few minutes of exploration, she took his hand and brought it up to her lips letting his fingertips run over them.She then guided his hand back down to her stomach making certain they lightly brushed her breast through her shirt.She was on a path that there seemed to be no escape from.Each point of contact her body had with Logan became aroused, especially when he returned to her belly lightly brushing his fingertips around her navel.A battle raged in her head between the part of her that wanted to abandon all restraint and part that was desperate to keep control.She feared the former would prevail, much to Logan's physical detriment.

A shudder ran through his body as she moved his hand higher beneath her shirt.He had almost convinced himself that he could feel it in his toes.He continued to move higher until he could feel the curve of her breasts.

She knew it was unfair the way she ambushed him and she wanted to stop, but she felt he might see it as a rejection.In her eyes, everything about him was still fragile—his body, his ego.It wasn't that she didn't want him, it was simply that her mind was not ready to control or handle what her body was about to do.In the end, her heart was pounding so hard she shivered with a mixture of anticipation and unbridled fear. 

Had Logan not stopped, a mistake would have been made.Neither was ready.Getting over his pity was one thing, but being ready and capable, of being with her, was something he hadn't tackled.Not to mention the fact that he was touching the woman he loved, and her body was shivering, but it wasn't a shiver of excitement---it was fear.The entire situation was obviously wrong so he pulled his hand away and pulled his body closer to her.He gently pushed her onto her side and held her tight.And there, with her body flush against his, he whispered to into her ear, "I need more time to figure _this_ out."Her heart was still racing.He buried his head in her hair and took a deep breath."And Max…you never need to do _this_…you never _need_ a reason to ask me to stay."Her heartbeat slowed.

Max let out a deep sigh of relief.She could still feel his heart pounding even as he spoke."I do want you," she said slightly embarrassed by her pathetic and scared attempt at seduction.She was conflicted.Her body wanted to force the issue but her mind wanted to stop.She finally decided to quiet her body's desire. /Control!Get yourself under control!/"…but I shouldn't have done that," she continued as her body slowly gave in to the defeat.She remained quiet but still ached for him so she pulled closer and wrapped her legs around his.There, with every curve of her body resting against him, they fell asleep.

--

Max woke to Logan staring at her.Their bodies had shifted and she was now facing him. She looked into his eyes./My God…this man made me lose complete control of myself.I'm not even in heat.All this because I wanted him to stay with me.I do want him…I just don't want to hurt him in any way.I mean what if I really got carried away and hurt him.Made the damage permanent.I don't want to…/ 

"Max…" he began softly, but hesitated as though he didn't seem to know what words would come next.At that moment, the lights in the apartment and all over the city went out and they were in another blackout.Max was relieved by the sudden change.The faltering in his voice had worried her, and so to avoid the uncomfortable situation, she jumped out of bed.

"I'm gonna go grab some candles," she began before he could say anything else."I'll be right back."She left the room and returned a minute later carrying a few candles.She arranged them around the room and began to light them./Is he freaked out by the way I acted.It was too much for him to take in stride.No he understood me…he understood it all.He's just like me.He can't ask me to just stay either that's why he gets it./She finally got to the candles on her bureau and lit them.She stood in front of the tiny flames and without turning back to face Logan said, "you know, the same goes for you too." 

"What," he asked confused by the randomness of her statement. 

"You don't always need to cook dinner or have some Eyes Only mission to get me to come over."She finally turned back to him waiting for some sort of response.

"Come here," he said as he moved to let her lay where his body had kept the bed warm.She smiled feeling more reassured and climbed back in.When she was settled, she began to brush her hand against his cheek.

"Thank You."

"For what," he asked as he placed his hand over hers.

"For a lot…for stopping._I_ probably wouldn't have for a lot of reasons…but it wasn't right.I was out of control and when I get like that I'm afraid I could hurt you.I don't wanna hurt you.I hate being scared, I'm completely useless."She couldn't read his face."But, I now know exactly how much I missed you."He smiled.

"Max…its just for now.I don't want you to always need to control yourself.I hate that you think you can't really be free because of my situation.I promise that will change.I want you to feel things without worrying about me…and without feeling guilty about putting yourself first."

"You really don't understand."

"Yeah… I do.Max, you won't hurt me."He kissed the palm of her hand and then brought it down to her hip and pinned it firmly against her body."Do you think that I haven't had to deal with sexually charged women before," he said mischievously."I'm still in one piece."The comment forced Max to roll her eyes and shake her head."Genetically revved up or not, I could've stopped you from attacking me.Now heat could be interesting with you.But Max…"

"Yes," she replied through her amusement at his comments.

"No means no."They both laughed light-heartedly.

"So," he said a few minutes later after the laughter had died down and they were once again lying in silence, "before, when we were talking about when I was younger, you told me you hadn't done a lot of things.I was just wondering, what was the one thing you wanted to do as a child that you never had the chance to do."

"I don't know- what a strange question."

"Think about it.When the Pulse hit, you're life changed again and a lot of children lost their childhoods.You never had one in the first place so you lost the chance twice.So what was the most frivolous thing that you had heard that kids did, but that you never had the chance to.

"I really don't know.I only spent a few months in a foster home.I guess coloring may be something.I never really saw a point to it.Same with water colors and drawing and all those things.They always seemed like a waste of time."Max turned her head in Logan's direction and found him somberly staring at her. "What?"

"Nothing…just thinking about the things I've taken for granted.I never really thought about the fact that you've never done the simple things like used crayons, or painted," he paused a moment,"and I'll bet you've never licked raw cookie dough from the bowl."

"No?!…why would I eat uncooked food?"

"Believe me, its one of the greatest things in the world.I'm convinced it should have been its own food group."He laughed when he saw her disgusted expression, "I'm really sorry that you haven't had some of those experiences.It was fun to just get lost in a different world as a child.You didn't have to worry about losing control because you didn't know you were supposed to have it.In fact, the kid who had the craziest ideas and got you into the most trouble and who was completely _out of control_, was usually the most revered…at least in the male world.Like I said, I'm just sorry you never felt that.I mean maybe if you had had the chance to lose control as a child, you wouldn't fear it so much now."

"Its not a problem Logan."His musings on her past, had made her uncomfortable.He could feel her emotional walls rise and her body tense slightly."It is the way it is but I'm working on it.I'm still reasonably well adjusted --for a killing machine.I have friends and I have people who really care about me.I think I've managed quite well."

"Yes you have," he said and dropped the subject she obviously did not want to dwell upon.Logan looked out of her window and realized that it had begun to rain.He turned back and looked at her laying next to him."God I'm sick of this weather aren't you."

"Logan, this is Seattle.I knew what I was getting into…well at least I thought I did," she said as she smiled at him.

"True but I can't wait until this rainy season ends."

"Yeah, I have to admit, it's been pretty bad."

"Max…" he began hesitantly, "what do you say about going up to my cabin the first sunny weekend we have?"

"Sounds nice.What will that be- a few months."

"Probably," he replied.A few moments later, his face dropped."So…I have to ask…are we OK?"

"Yeah, were OK."

"Good.Can you tell Cindy because she threatened to kick my ass, and I'm a little worried."

"I'll take care of her.She may get an ass kicking from me for setting me up when you walked in."

"She was only looking out for her girl.Go easy on her 'boo'."

"Logan"

"Yes"

"Never again"

"OK," he said as they laughed."I'll come up with my own nickname."

Logan stayed in her bed all night.Cindy came in at around two and looked into the room.Max opened her eyes to a smiling Cindy.She smiled and waved her away.

Please R&R.Let me know what you think.


	4. Watercolors and Peach Roses

Chapter 3

Title: Design

Author: aegean

E-mail: aegean11@hotmail.com

Genre: Story Angst, Romance, Action-- Max/Logan shippery

Rating: R

Summary: This chapter takes place sometime after Female Trouble and Cape Haven.Max is at the top of the Space Needle thinking about the events of the last few days.

Disclaimer:Dark Angel is a Fox /Cameron/Eglee vehicle.I get no money.I do it for fun/practicePlease don't sue me.

Notes:This is my first chaptered fanfic.I have planned for 5 chapters—hopefully something like one a week but who knows.Chapter 3 hopefully is up to par with my previous chapters.I hope you guys like it.Please R&R.Good/Bad whatever.Advice.Anything works for me.

Chapter 3

Watercolors and Peach Roses

_ _

Three Months Later

/Nothing's gonna happen now.I'm outta here…no I can't, Logan's info was strong.OK, one more hour that's it./Max had been crouching behind a construction crane on the roof of a building near the outskirts of sector five.She had a direct line of sight to the street below.According to Logan's intel, there was supposed to be a meeting between the two concerned parties who wanted ownership of the phone system.She frequently wondered why they always had to meet in the middle of the night in the bad parts of town.Just once she wanted them to meet in a nice hotel, or at a spa, or in the country, but she quickly gave up on that idea.For months, she had been skulking around at night trying to catch these guys.They rarely showed and if they did, nothing that Eyes Only could use was discussed.For all her troubles, she had been chased and shot at by sector police on occasion and had been in several fights with the rougher elements in the neighborhood, still never returning with usable information.Logan felt bad because he couldn't put his finger on what was going on.So, there Max crouched for seven hours, waiting to help Eyes Only.

Her self-imposed limit of one hour ended at four in the morning.She began to move not thinking that her muscles would make her unsteady after seven hours in one position.So intent on getting out of there she didn't realize that some guys had gathered on the other street corner below her exit point.She stood up and jumped off the edge of the roof onto the ground below straight into the men.At first they were surprised at her appearance, but they far outnumbered her so they began to harass her. 

"I don't know how you just did that little girl…but mmmm, at least we know you're limber," one of them said as they approached her.Her upper thighs were still cramped as she got into her fighting stance.He saw her prepare to defend herself and began to laugh."Look at her, took a self defense class and thinks she can take us on." He attempted to grab her arm and she threw a round house, which was supposed to make contact with his ribs, but fell short because her muscle spasmed and only reached his hip.Because of the awkwardness of her kick, she lost her balance and fell back./Dammit Max you're slipping./She felt someone coming up behind her and shot him a back kick to his pelvis with enough force to knock him back several feet.She spun around and jumped up just in time to plant a left hook into the face of another attacker.Stunned by the blow, he charged her again, but received a knee in the chest for his efforts.She pushed him down and looked up just in time to see the Mack 10 that was pointed at her face.She ducked and moved to dodge the bullets.It was still pretty dark, so the gunman missed because he couldn't see her well.He had fired the full clip into her last known position, and didn't notice the figure coming at him from the side.She barreled into him with such speed he went flying into a brick wall with enough force to shatter his shoulder.The gun dropped to the ground./Crude but effective./By this time the last man standing, armed with a switchblade was already standing behind her.Sensing his approach, she quickly shifted to the side and he missed with his first lunge.She turned around and grabbed the hand holding the knife.He tried to land a punch but she grabbed his other wrist in a temporary stalemate.She threw a head butt and as he stumbled backward she released a wrist giving her enough space between them to land two kicks to his ribs.He buckled over and she threw one more kick to his face to knock him out.The first attacker had regained consciousness by this time and fired three rounds at Max.The first two bullets grazed her waist, but by the time the third was fired, she had moved out of the way.He looked to see where she had gone but only saw her foot fly into his face.When she was finished, she surveyed the damage to her waist and to the men on the ground and then decided she'd better take off in the event sector police decided to show up. 

"Honey I'm home," she said flatly as she walked in at a quarter to five in the morning.She walked down the hall toward the light of Logan's bedroom door.She was casually holding her side trying to stop the tiny amounts of blood that had formed from falling on his hardwood floors.

"By the tone of your voice, I'd say it was another uneventful stakeout" he said when he saw her shadow cut through the light outside his door.He knew the tone all to well.It had a defeatist quality to it. 

"No," she said shaking her head as though she were pondering her response, "more like…"

"Another fight," Logan finished as she came into the room.He quietly got out of bed and went to the bathroom as though seeing her shot up was a normal event.He had been undergoing a new treatment for a few months and now had limited abilities with his legs.He moved very slowly, however, he didn't need the chair as much and he was making steady progress.He went into the bathroom to get cotton and peroxide while she stripped off her cat-suit.She sat on the bed in her underwear waiting for him to return.The wound really didn't need treatment, perhaps only a stitch or two, but they had come to an understanding over the past several months.She would let him treat her wounds without complaining and he promised not to worry too much when she got injured.He came out and dealt with the situation."So what happened," he asked.

"Run of the mill thugs, you know that part of town.Guys think they're bad asses until the girl steps in and shows them otherwise.Ouch that stings!"

"Sorry," he said paying more attention to how he cleaned her cuts."So how'd you get hurt?"

"One of them shot at me when he regained consciousness."

"How many were there?"

"Five," she answered flatly.

"Heavily armed," he said as though he were stating a fact he already knew.

"No.Two guns and a switchblade."

"That's it?" The words contained both a mixture of surprise and disbelief./What am I talking about.I couldn't take on five guys.Stop questioning her./

"What's that supposed to mean?That's enough for most people.It would be enough for you." /Don't start a fight with him.This is your fault not his./

"Yes, but I'm not you and you're not most people."

"Oh, let me get this straight, so…because I'm a genetically engineered killing machine I can't have an off night?"

"You've had a couple of off nights lately."/Fuck! That did it.Why couldn't you just shut up Logan!/The moment he said it he wanted to immediately take it back.He said it out of worry and not as a critique, but he knew it was too late.He just hoped he could do damage control.

"Really…well I'm sorry the all mighty Eyes Only is no longer pleased with the work of his personal vigilante."Logan knew things were bad when she called him by his alter-ego."Maybe if your intel wasn't such crap, I wouldn't get distracted by the mind numbing boredom."

"Whoa.This is not about me.I'm just concerned about all the accidents lately."

"What Logan…you want me to say that I was careless.Well I wasn't.Sometimes I just get hurt.But let me tell you, it gets a little tiring going out there night after night for nothing.I mean what the hell is happening?_And this is about you_.It's your crusade.Are you sure Eyes Only just isn't trying to see a problem where there isn't one because things have been slow?No wrongs to right lately?"He last remark had been intentionally angry and snide, but she couldn't help but lose her temper.She needed the fight.She wasn't really mad at Logan, she was mad at her own carelessness, and wanted to just shut down.While it was true that she had become more open about her feelings during the time she had spent with Logan, sometimes he would try to hard to get her to talk when she was upset, and she knew the only way out of it was through a fight.Months of being with Logan just couldn't change certain traits.When she felt backed into a corner, she still needed to put her walls up.And, at that moment she was feeling pretty low.She couldn't help but think that she was designed to be the best so every time she got hurt, it hit her on an emotional level.She was sure that if she had still been at Manticore she would have been terminated by now for her poor performance."You know what, I really don't want to get into this right now."

"All right.We'll talk about it in the morning.Lets just go to bed."He knew she was just trying to start a fight.She often did this when she was angry with herself.His approach used to be to have it out with her and she always ended up walking out.One night he was too tired to argue and by the next morning she had calmed down.He soon realized that she always calmed down; it just took her time.She got up grabbed one of his shirts and started to walk to the guestroom."Max?!"

"Logan, I'm too annoyed I'll be restless," she said as she left the room.It had been weeks since she had slept in the guestroom.At first when she would spend the night she would automatically go to the spare room.However, in the weeks that passed, she had started to spend later nights in his room before returning to the guestroom.One night, she just decided to stay in his room.The night proved to be an exercise in control for both Max and Logan. It was the first night they took their relationship one step closer to complete intimacy.They wanted to have full consummation, but couldn't because of the recent changes with his legs.

His recovery began with slight feeling similar in nature to the kind he had experienced when he received Max's blood.Shortly after, he was able to stand and walk.He looked at it as a second attempt at what Max had started.He just hoped it would be a more permanent fix.Being able to walk short distances allowed him and Max to go for regular walks in the park, each time increasing the distance.A few weeks after he began to walk, they wanted to start sleeping together, but the doctors and Bling advised them that any unnecessary rigorous movement could traumatize the new tissue.Max and Logan hardly considered the movement they had planned unnecessary, but decided to wait until he had recovered fully.They felt that they could keep themselves busy with other activities in the interim.

It wasn't the first time they were denied intimacy.Before Logan began treatment, they had discussed their mutual issues regarding his situation and decided they were ready for each other.Logan went to his physician that afternoon for a standard check-up and it was at that appointment he learned of a procedure that could help him regain the use of his legs.When he returned to Max, he told her that he wanted to wait until after the results of the new treatment.She reluctantly agreed, reminding him that she didn't care about his condition, but clearly he wanted everything to be as perfect as possible, and that included the use of his legs.They had been under the impression that it wouldn't take long.However, the treatment made Logan susceptible to scar tissue damage.Again they had to wait.

--

The next morning Max got out of her bed and climbed into Logan's.She wasn't angry anymore and wanted to be held.He felt her climb in and lifted his arm so that she could bury her head in his chest."I'm sorry," he said meekly as he kissed her head.

"Me too," she replied.They touched each other gently, both conscious of the other's weak points.Logan being particularly careful with her wound, forgetting that it was probably already healed.Two hours later, they lay in bed holding each other and he asked her if she wanted to talk about the previous night.She declined not feeling ready to verbalize her feelings.Instead she told him she was hungry.He laughed, put on boxers and a t-shirt and wheeled himself into the kitchen.He had difficulty standing first thing in the morning, always needing a light workout to get his muscles ready for a day of walking.She followed behind him a few minutes later.He had already begun to whip up a quick breakfast making enough for three because he knew Bling would be over in a shortly.

"Hey Logan, hey Max," Bling said as he walked into the apartment.

"Hey Bling," they replied in unison.

"I've got fruit and pancakes and a favor to ask."

"O…K," Bling said slowly as he sat down at the table.

"Nothing bad.Its just that Max has been working so hard lately and I promised that we'd go to the cabin as soon as it warmed up.I think we should go next weekend so can you keep an eye on things here?"

"You don't even have to ask.Not a problem," Bling replied.He was glad that they were getting away.Max was looking a little worse for wear and Logan had been getting edgy.He kept telling them that they couldn't save the world 24-7.

Max got up to go take a shower.She knew that the boys needed to do some therapy and Logan didn't always like her around for that.Some days it was harder for him than others and she learned that if she left voluntarily to do something else, he didn't feel guilty about wanting to get rid of her.When Logan heard the shower start to run, he turned to talk to Bling.

"I need to know how my progress is going.I feel stronger and I'm only using the chair to make certain I don't overdo anything."Logan paused for a moment."So I need to know if I'm still in danger of tissue damage if I engage in…" Logan began to blush and Bling caught onto his train of thought.

"…if you engage in rigorous activity," Bling said with a grin on his face.He was glad to hear that the weekend away was going to have a romantic element.They really needed it.

"Yeah.I feel like a fool not being able to talk about this."

"Don't worry about it.I'm your friend and your PT.It's a perfectly normal conversation to be having with either."Logan seemed to relax at this statement. "In my professional opinion, as long as Max… takes it easy, I say have fun."

"Yeah, Max take it easy…right.Do you know what it was like last month when she was in heat?"

"Not really.Don't really want the details either."He left the room and returned with some towels for the workout."So does she know this is what you've got planned?"

"No, I don't know if anything will happen either.I just want to make certain that I can."

"Well, you can and you have my permission."

"Thanks," Logan replied sarcastically.

"For what," Max said as she came out of Logan's room.They looked at her with guilty faces."What're you two plotting," she said in response to their look.

"Nothing," they replied in unison.She shrugged and turned back into the room.They knew she was letting them off the hook and they were relieved that she had been so kind because they found it difficult to lie to her when she was standing in front of them.

***********************************

"So," Max said to Cindy, "I'm a little nervous about going away with Logan.I mean I want to, but I'm still concerned about hurting his progress."Cindy hadn't seen Max since in over a week.It wasn't entirely Max's fault, Cindy had been out with Lana every time Max finally came home.Even at work, their schedules seemed off.So for the first time in ten days, they were sitting together in front of the lockers at Jam Pony getting ready for their morning runs and discussing life.

"Girl, you worry too much.Lets put it this way…if you two don't get this out of your system soon, you _will_ end up hurting him when you finally do lose control.Does he know it's what you want out of the weekend?"

"Haven't actually said anything yet, but I think I've given good signals.I've got something planned for the cabin though."

"Talk," Cindy said.

"Bip,Bip,Bip, ladies," Normal yelled from his control station."You do work here don't you?Get these to 121 East Liberty."He handed several bundles to Max and Cindy."Come on people let's move."

"Guess we'll talk later, gotta go pay the bills."Max grabbed the packages from Normal and waved bye to Cindy."She hadn't really wanted to discuss her plan so she was happy for the interruption of work.

***********************************

"Adequate.Her performance has been adequate.I was told that she was one of the best and she barely beat our men in the streets last week…and they were untrained thugs" said the first man.

"Perhaps she's been away from training for too long.However, her speed and strength are still within their appropriate ranges.I believe we can harness these skills," said the second man.

"Do you wish for further tests sir," a subordinate asked.

"Yes," a third man replied to the subordinate."Her endurance, speed, and strength have been tested," he said addressing the other two men at the table."We need to test her intelligence, her ability to problem solve.We need a bigger challenge."

"She has failed to make the connection between us and Seattle's recent…complications.Isn't that enough of a test of her problem solving capabilities," retorted the first man.

"One could argue that we've been remiss in our little fact finding mission by failing to give her a compelling reason to seek us out.However, I believe I have a suitable test," said the third figure.

"Fine, you have one week.We must see what she is truly made of," said the first man.He turned to the subordinate."Set everything to his specifications.You are excused." 

"Yes sir…sir…sir," the subordinate said addressing each man individually.

************************************

"So Logan, why doesn't Eyes Only send me on any Valentine Operations," Max said as she touched his upper thigh.They were on their way to his uncles cabin and she was feeling particularly flirtatious.

"He does.You climb into bed with him every night."She laughed.She had her window rolled down and she was on her way to spend a weekend at the cabin.She was actually feeling giddy.She didn't really know what to expect, and she didn't care.

They arrived at their destination late Saturday morning.Logan stopped the car and Max jumped out.She ran to the trunk to unload its contents.She wanted to start relaxing as soon as possible.There was a box of food, a case of champagne, and another mysterious box that Logan had brought.She had been dying to see its contents from the moment she saw him put it in the car.She ran up the stairs leaving Logan at the car.He was bringing up the rear with the box he had forbidden her to look in.It had taken all her self-control to do as he asked.When she got to the top of the stairs, she burst through the front door and was immediately taken aback by what she saw.

Everything was the same way she and Zack had left it--except for the flowers.There were at least a dozen different bouquets of flowers in the main room.There were white roses on the table by the front door, followed by the yellow roses on the coffee table.There were red roses on the windowsill.And finally, there was a bouquet of pink roses on the table by the bedroom door.She remembered exactly what each color meant as she walked through the room brushing her hand over each bouquet.She didn't really know what to think and couldn't speak because she had been rendered speechless."I had the caretaker fix things up this morning," Logan said as he came in the front door.She turned when she heard his voice and just sat on the couch."Sorry if it's too much."

"It's not that.I…you ..you always surprise me."Logan just smiled bashfully.

"Lets go for a walk before it gets dark." Since regaining his legs, Logan never passed up the opportunity to walk in new places.She agreed and they went out the back door and into the woods.They walked for a while before they found a clearing to stop in.He found some soft grass and they sat down.She rested her head on his lap and he played with her hair.He looked into her dark brown eyes and she into his baby blues.They both sighed a lotthough conflicted between deciding whether to speak or whether to embrace the comfortable silence.They remained there until dusk, leaving only when a chill settled in the air.

When they returned, Logan kissed her forehead at the door and went into the kitchen.He notified her he was going to make her a special treat before he cooked dinner and she wasn't allowed to see it so she told him she was going to take a bath.He roguishly said she could either do that or see what was in the mystery box.Her curiosity beat out the bath.She walked over and opened the box while Logan was in the kitchen.Inside she found crayons and coloring books and watercolors, and at first she was confused, but she quickly understood.Logan had put some of the most basic elements of a childhood into a box and gave them to her.She examined each item with great curiosity.Of course she felt a little strange becoming enamored with children's playthings, but it was strangely liberating.

She set everything on the coffee table and sat down in front of it.She stared and waited not knowing where to begin or if she should begin./I can't play.I don't know how to play.Maybe that's the point.You just have to throw yourself into it.How funny, I'm actually afraid of playing wrong./ She didn't really have the opportunity to think about it long because she began to smell such a wonderful aroma fill the cabin-- chocolate chip cookies.Logan had baked cookies.She smiled and laughed at how much trouble he had gone through to make the vacation so special.

"OK," he said as he came out of the kitchen carrying a bowl, "you've gotta try this.Why aren't you doing anything?" 

"What do I do," she asked looking between the table and Logan."Let me rephrase that.I know what to do, but where should I start."

"Start by tasting this for me," he said as he handed her a spoon.She didn't really think anything of it because she had often tasted his creations while he was working on them.

"Mmmm, this is sweet.I like it.What is it," she said with a childlike smile.

"Cookie dough.You've just taken your first step toward childhood, the rest should be easy."He handed her the spoon and the bowl and sat down beside her.He picked up some pencils and started to draw.She watched him intently as he drew and ate cookie dough.After five minutes she saw that he was drawing what looked like a pair of eyes.She picked up a crayon and tried to copy him."Max, you can't draw what I draw, that's not the point… I once drew a portrait of my mother for her birthday when I was younger.She said she loved it, but the whole thing was a disaster. Everything was off except for the eyes.For some reason they were perfect.That probably why the one feature of my mother that never fades is her eyes.I guess what I'm, trying to say is the whole point is to draw what you like."She tried and whimsically took some colored pencils and began to draw a house in great detail.Logan was moved by the unguarded nature of the picture. 

"What?" she asked when she caught him staring.

"Nothing.I just liked your picture," Logan replied.Max turned to look down at her work and a somber expression crossed her face.Logan knew she was slipping away from the carefree nature of the moment, so he tried to bring her back."You know, I get the whole picture…the house, the yard, the garage.But what I don't get are the two tiny elephants in the front."Max looked down at her work and then turned to Logan.

"Those are dogs, thank you."He looked at her skeptically and to retaliate, Max hit him with a sofa pillow.They both began to laugh

After about an hour of coloring and laughing they decided that they should return to adulthood and break open the champagne.After dinner they sat around drinking champagne.They were quickly getting visibly anxious over where the next few minutes would lead.

They found out soon enough when Logan leaned over and began to kiss her.She in response wrapped her arms around his neck and fell back into the couch.They remained in that position for a few minutes until Max had to re-adjust her body to accommodate the added weight of his.While in the embrace, she brought her legs in toward her chest and used her feet to slide his pants down.It was the most efficient multi-tasking Logan had ever been a party to.A few moments later, she felt the absence of his chest upon hers as he lifted away to give himself enough room to remove her shorts.He ran both of his hands down her stomach and to the buttons of her jean shorts.

Logan, equally as adept at removing clothing, undid the first button and pulled, forcing the rest to immediately give way.He bent down and kissed the soft flesh below her belly button before removing her shorts.She raised her hips just enough to make the process a little easier.Logan had told her the first night they had removed each others clothes that there were few things sexier than when a woman lifted her waist to aid in disrobing, effectively giving permission to continue.

Max was enjoying the slow nature of the situation, but her desire was building, so she pulled his body back over hers and kissed him intensely for a few minutes before getting him out of the rest of his clothes.She had him sit up so that she could straddle his legs.She would've just flipped him, but she knew she still had to take it easy.Once on top, she leaned forward and kissed his lips moving toward his ear.She loved the way his permanent stubble tickled her cheeks.It electrified her body when she was this close to him.Leaning back a little to get better access to his shirt, she unbuttoned each button so slowly it nearly ended him.She would undo a button then kiss his chest adding slight licks and bites as she worked her way down.When his shirt was undone she slowly ran her fingertips over his shoulders and slipped it off.She planted one kiss on his collarbone and murmured "Logan I have something for you.Wait here."She jumped off his lap and went to her bag.He was confused, but remained on the couch.She returned quickly with something behind her back and climbed into his lap."Here," she said as she pulled a peach colored rose from behind her back."I had to make a delivery to a florist shop and few weeks ago and saw these.I asked what they meant and the owner told me that peach stood for desire and excitement.You never told me about peach roses." Logan took the flower out of her hand and without a sound, pulled her into a loving kiss."Lets move this into the bedroom shall we," she said after breaking the embrace. He nodded and they retired to the bedroom.

She was walking ahead of him, but turned to face him when they reached the bed.She intertwined her hands in his and pulled him down onto the bed.She wanted him on top.It would restrain her more 'rigorous' impulses.She used her legs to drag them higher onto the bed.In moments their bodies were bare and it was just skin upon skin.Noting his increased level of excitement, Logan reached under one of the pillows and returned with a few little square packages.Logan was readying himself to open it when Max grabbed it from his hand.She held it above her head seductively and toyed with him.

"You can get it away from me…all you need to do is reach for it."A grin crossed his face as he shook his head at her.Max too was overcome by the moment and pulled the package to her mouth tearing it open before Logan got a hold of it.Just as she did that, she heard the front door fly open.

"Logan!…Max!" 

"Bling!" they both yelled.

"We've gotta go back to Seattle now!" he yelled.His voice was uneven in that way that made it seem as though he ran all the way to the cabin.They had no idea what was going on, but if Bling had interrupted their vacation, it had to have been life or death.Logan grabbed the sheet wrapped it around his body and ran out into the living room.Max followed with the spread around her body.When Bling saw the two of them, he couldn't determine at what point he had walked in and felt terrible, but he knew he needed to get to them whatever the cost."We have to go back now.Seattle is in complete lockdown…they're shooting people who try to leave.I barely got out.All phone lines are down and the power is out.Arsonists have set fires and people are dying in the streets because no one can call for help.They locked everyone into their sectors without any medical or fire support.It's a war zone right now."They both stared at him in utter confusion.They knew their weekend was over and this only confirmed that they would never truly be able to leave their alter-egos for long.Seattle couldn't survive without them.

During the car ride back, Max noticed that Bling hadn't looked directly at her since he arrived.At first she thought it was out of respect for her modesty, after all it was an embarrassing situation to interrupt.But on the car ride back, she realized there was something else wrong.Logan was too busy with his laptop to realize that Bling was acting unusually despite the extreme nature of the situation.She decided to find out what was up."Bling you haven't looked at me all night.I'm getting the feeling that there's something more about this situation that I am not going to like."She could see him trying to formulate a response, so she waited.

"You're right.There is something else."At this admission Logan looked up at Bling and both he and Max waited for the last of the bad news."I was monitoring the video feed from the police drones in the different sectors.There was a man standing in each zone holding a sign with a series of numbers…your numbers Max…it was your barcode.They were calling you out."When Bling finished a deafening silence filled the car that lasted halfway back to Seattle.

*********************************

Please let me know what you think.Thanks for all the reviews so far.


	5. Christianson, Franklin, and Tisch

Chapter 4

Title: Design

Author: aegean

E-mail: aegean11@hotmail.com

Genre: Story Angst, Romance, Action-- Max/Logan shippery

Rating: R

Summary: OK here it is.I hope it was worth breaking up their trip to the cabin.

Disclaimer:Dark Angel is a Fox /Cameron/Eglee vehicle.I get no money.I do it for fun/practicePlease don't sue me.

Notes:I hope you like this chapter.I just wanted to thank everyone who has read and reviewed.I get so excited to hear what people have to say.OK, I'm on to chapter 5 now, gonna try to finish it ASAPPlease R&R.Good/Bad whatever.Advice.Anything works for me.

Chapter 4

Christianson, Franklin, and Tisch

Max, Bling, and Logan, sat consumed by their thoughts.Bling focused on his driving while trying to think of anything that could be useful to them while Logan worked on his laptop gathering information and monitoring the video feeds for evidence of the men.There was no sign of them.Max was attempting to reconcile herself to the fact that it was not Lydecker trying to smoke her out.It simply wasn't his style.

"Figures they'd wait until this weekend to bring the city down," Logan muttered, finally breaking the silence."Based on what I've found, this all has to do with Seatel, and the thus far illusive company vying for the takeover.For some reason it's as though this corporation now _wants_ to reveal itself."

"Logan," Max said, putting on her cat suit in the backseat, "we need a way back into the city, then we can worry about who these guys are."

"I know.I'm working on that too.The city border of sector seven has the weakest security and it puts us relatively close to my apartment.We should go there first."

"Fine," she grunted as she put on her boots.She sat back up after having successfully changed clothes."So, now…give me some information about these people." 

"Well, they must be calling you out because they're going to great lengths to make themselves known.Apparently, CFT Inc. is the company that's been trying to buy out Seatel, the corporation that currently owns the rights to the telephone lines.It seems they got tired of waiting for their offer to be accepted and caused this.And, to add insult to injury, CFT also owns controlling interests in the power company.What I don't understand is why they're doing this now."

"Men with too much time and too much money are trouble."She knew it was more of a rhetorical question, but still felt the need to reply.

"It's gotta be more than that.They're trying to bring Seattle down and they obviously want to find you."

"We're almost at the edge of the city."Bling spoke for the first time since he told Max about her barcode."Do you want to stop and figure out exactly what we should do?"He had finally readied himself to go back to Seattle.

"Yeah, pullover at the next turn-off.We need to figure this out.I need just a little more time."Logan was back to his laptop trying to hack into Seatel's files for any information on CFT and the takeover.They took the exit and pulled off the road to create a plan.

--

One hour later after a little more digging Logan called for Max and Bling. They'd been going through the supplies Bling had brought.He didn't know what they were going to need in order to get past the guards.There were the clothes, a few guns, and some detonators, plastique and TNT.When Max saw the explosives she looked incredulously at Bling.He simply pointed at Logan.She made a mental note to ask him about it later.

When they got to Logan, he briefed them on CFT.It was a fairly new company and had an incredibly powerful board of directors with extensive resources and cash flow.Logan had come up with the names of the board members- Christianson, Franklin, and Tisch.

"Who are they," Bling asked after the briefing.

"I don't really know, I've never heard of the company before, although the names do sound very familiar.Robert Christianson, Daniel Franklin, and Geoffrey Tisch-- where do I know those names?"

"Logan all I want to know is where I can find them."Max could hide neither her impatience, nor her disinterested in the connection Logan was trying to make.

"You can't just break into the city, walk up to their door, and knock.If they are behind all the arsonist attacks, then they have an agenda."

"I realize that Logan but we are officially wasting time now.They must have some sort of base of operations in town.I think it's the most obvious place to start considering we have nothing else to go on."

"True.Their offices are in sector seven. But doesn't it seem odd that they're in the least patrolled sector.Wouldn't they want more protection in light of all the chaos?"

"I guess they're making it easy for us."Bling said.His tone carried a bit more confidence than he was actually feeling.

"I know I don't need to tell you two that this is a set up."

"Logan at this point, what are my options.Setup or not, I have to get in there."Her tone carried an air of resoluteness that only Max could produce.She wanted to confront the situation as soon as possible."...and I think," she continued slowly, "you guys should stay out of the city until I get back."

"Max," Bling said before Logan could respond, "that's not gonna happen.When _we _get back inside, it's going to take all of us to end this."Max was prepared to argue the issue, but suddenly realized that it would do no good.Getting into the city would be easy enough for her, but she didn't know what she was up against on the other side.In truth she knew she would probably need their help.

-

It took them only 10 minutes to get to the border of Seattle.Logan's information had been accurate in that there were very few guards.Their entry point was to be a warehouse that comprised part of the border wall.There were no guards around it because there were no windows on the first five floors.The only way a person could gain entrance would be to climb the fence and scale the wall up to the sixth floor.In the end that was what they decided to do.

When the guards were at their furthest point, Max ran for the fence and in two jumps was on top of it.She then began to scale the wall using the divets in its façade to climb.In under a minute, she was at one of the sixth floor windows.She broke it and was in.

The place had been condemned.There were exposed wires and the walls were falling apart.Max grabbed as many wires as she could and wrapped them together until they were long enough to lower down to Logan and Bling.She knew the climb would be incredibly difficult for them.Climbing six flights using a cord was no easy task.They would have to do it in under three minutes a piece, bare handed--a next to impossible task.She lowered the makeshift rope down to the guys and waited for them to climb up.

Bling went first.The climb was difficult for him but he was in good shape and, because he had had rock climbing experience, he was able to use the divets as hand and footholds in the same way Max had.For Logan, the climb proved to be more challenging.He hadn't done anything strenuous since the accident because he didn't want to set himself back.He'd only done normal workouts and physical therapy.However, he did discover during the climb that his upper body strength had increased to the point where it made the ascent possible.And, for the first time in his life he was actually happy he had been in the chair.It enabled him to gain strength he never would have had.It was simply ironic that he was so worried about not being able to be of use to Max because of the chair.In the end, it was that _damn_ chair that had made him of use to her that night

Logan successfully completed the climb and they regrouped on the sixth floor just in time for a confrontation with two guards who were making their rounds through the building.Logan and Bling broke left and Max right, hiding their bodies in the shadows.The guards walked into the room and when their silhouettes broke the stream of moonlight against the floor, Max signaled Bling into action.She grabbed one guard by the arm wielding the gun, and knocked him out while Bling barreled into the other guard taking him down with a blow to the face.The take down was flawlessly executed.Max could have done it alone, but she wasn't sure if they had a way to signal for backup so she figured Bling would understand her desire for a simultaneous knockout.They quickly left the warehouse and headed for Logan's apartment.

***********************************

"Sir, she's back in the city."

"Good.Gentlemen, this should tell us one way or another."

***********************************

They arrived at Logan's after evading the increased number of sector police.Once inside Logan immediately went to his computers and Bling went to get some things he had left.The power was made possible by the backup generators that were installed in some of the wealthier neighborhoods.Once again she was thankful for Logan's affluence.

Max followed Logan into the computer room and told him she was going directly to CFT's offices.He didn't argue with her because she had been right about it being their only option.He simply took out his cache of surveillance equipment and pulled out three very small listening devices.

"Max, I want you to take this earpiece.It's two-way so I can hear what's going on. If I find out anything new I'll be able to relay it to you right away." Max was standing next to Logan as he spoke.She even appeared to be listening, but her multi-tasking and parallel processing, were taxed almost to their limits.Logan had to drive his point home by raising his voice."I want you to keep in contact with me OK."With her refocused attention, she nodded and took the device, walked over to the mirror, and secured it in her ear.

"OK Logan.I've got to go now."Max looked back to the computer chair, but Logan had already moved.She turned in Bling's direction and saw the two of them putting guns in their holsters."What exactly do you two think you're doing," she said matter-of-factly.

"Going with you." Logan knew that if he looked at her, he might have seriously considered leaving Seattle in a state of destruction just to keep her safe.So, he focused on packing explosives into a black bag."You're gonna need someone to cover your ass on the way over."

She began to cross the room gaining speed with each step."In the bedroom now," she said as she passed.He looked up at Bling shaking his head as he turned to follow her.He crossed the threshold of the bedroom and the door closed."What the hell do you think you're doing?"Irate couldn't begin to describe how she was feeling."As if I don't have enough to think about, I now have to talk you out of this insanity."

"Max," he began calmly after listening to her, "you don't know what you're about to face.There are sector police, the guys with your barcode, crazed and scared people, not to mention the men behind CFT.You're just one person despite your capabilities. You're gonna need help to navigate your way through it."A few moments passed before she spoke again.

"Logan," her tone had calmed to match his, "I can't risk you guys having your heads blown off."

"And we can't risk yours," he replied and then turned and walked out the door.

Max's body tensed and she yelled after him, "Maybe _you_ have a death wish, but think about Bling!" 

"Thanks for looking out for me Max, but I'm a big boy." Bling had heard the entire exchange in the bedroom and it hadn't fazed him.He was prepared for what was to come.He looked away from Max and continued to pack.And, at that final action, a moment of silence hit the room, and everyone knew what it meant.Max had given up the fight and the boys had won the right to possibly get themselves killed.Her demeanor showed her acquiescence and slowly her eyes drifted up to Logan who was now standing in front of her.They hadn't really looked at each other since the cabin and now they were staring at each other wondering what more could happen to them.He touched her cheeks and pulled her in for what he realistically thought could be their last kiss.She held her lips to his for a few moments before breaking the embrace.He didn't say anything.He walked to his desk and grabbed a few things and then they all walked toward the door.

--

The elevator ride was long and silent.He desperately wanted to tell her to be careful, but for some reason the words didn't form.He needed to say something to her before they reached the ground.As Max felt the elevator slow, she desperately wanted to hear him say something to her, but the words never came.She knew how he felt.It was one thing to send her out when he had a reasonable idea of what was going to happen.This time neither of them was in control.That was in the hands of an unknown third party.

As the elevator doors opened, she simply turned and said, "I always am," and walked out of the lobby and across the street into a nearby alley.He smiled because it was her standard response when he told her to be careful.Logan and Bling took off down the main streets.They had decided to separate because it was deemed better to have the boys as back up.In the event she hit trouble, they could hopefully bail her out.

--

Max arrived at her destination half an hour after leaving.She still had to evade all sector police, which was no easy task because they had increased in number.She had Logan in her ear telling her what their movements would be as information came over a police scanner he was carrying.They were following about a mile behind keeping her informed while allowing a safe maneuverability buffer.She was still concerned about their safety, but thankful that she had Logan nearby.She was now standing on the roof of the building across the street from CFT's base of operations.It was surrounded by guards and the whole scene gave her flashbacks of Manticore.She realized unfortunately that the only way into the building was through the men.It gave up the element of surprise, but she had to get in.

Before she started her advance, she gave Logan a layout and estimate of the number of hostiles.She couldn't confirm the number inside."I'm going now," she said after briefing Logan on the situation.

"Hold your position," he ordered.It was a gamble, but Logan figured her military mind set had kicked in and she would be more inclined to listen to him if he made a command as opposed to a request.

"What," she replied a little louder than she had intended.

"Stay put!Bling did you get all that?"

"Yeah give me two minutes," Bling answered from a different location.

"Logan, what's going on?"

"Max, hold your position for two minutes.We're working on a diversion to draw the guards.I'll be with you in a sec."He cut off communication leaving Max standing their impatiently waiting for an update."OK, we'll detonate in twenty seconds.Be prepared to go on the blast."

Twenty seconds later the shock wave from the blast ripped through the streets.It was so powerful, that even though she knew it was coming, it still managed to take her by surprise.When the guards ran in the general direction of the explosion, Max jumped from her perch on the building, and took off into a run towards those remaining.She took them by surprise and made it through with little resistance.She had thought it was too easy and she was right.The moment she broke through the door, roughly two dozen more men confronted her.

The fighting was intense.Logan was in her ear but could do nothing to help her.She had to fight her way up three flights of stairs alone.They just kept coming at her.She dodged and blocked hundreds of punches and kicks coming from every direction.There were times when her concentration was divided between so many different attacks; she thought she would actually be taken out by a sucker punch.However, in the end she made it, but the fighting had taken its toll.

When she reached the third floor, she found it completely empty of guards. There was only a hallway and at the end a set of thick double doors.She walked down the hall warily and kicked open the doors.She had had enough and had no intention of knocking.

What she found on the other side of the doors managed to confuse her.Where she was expecting to find more chaos, she found order.Three men in dark suits were sitting at a long table surrounded by several men standing around them.

"Time," the man sitting on the right asked flatly.

"Twelve minutes and thirty seven seconds, sir," a subordinate replied.

"Very promising," the man on the left said as though she weren't in the room.

"Alone?" asked the first man.

"No, the _man_ assisted her," answered the subordinate.

"You may want to take a seat...you'll be here a while," said the man in the center finally acknowledging her presence.

Max crossed her arms."Doubtful."

"As you like," he replied."Max…" he paused to look at his aid.

"Guevara, sir," the aid responded knowing what answer his boss was looking for.

"Yes.Max Guevara…x-5 division under Donald Lydecker's command.CO-Zach. Escaped with eleven others shortly before the pulse and have been evading capture ever since.Friends- Herbal Thought, Sketchy, Kendra-former roommate, Original Cindy-current roommate, Bling- PT to your significant other Logan Cale.You currently retain your own apartment but live mostly at his.Work- courier at Jam Pony."

Max stood there listening, trying to figure out what it was all about."Max, you have to get out of there now!"She had forgotten that Logan was in her ear.She wanted to get back to him, but her body wouldn't move.The need for answers over powered her instinct for self-preservation.She was too distracted to notice that several guards had filed in behind her.They grabbed her by both arms and waited for orders. She tried to struggle, but it was useless there were just too many at once.

"I almost forget," said the man in the center, "check her for listening devices."He proceeded to speak while they searched."Max, I would like you to meet Mr. Christianson to your left, Mr. Tisch to your right, and I am Mr. Franklin."He paused."We have much to tell you."

"Sir, we've detected a listening device in her ear."

"Max…say goodbye to Logan… this is a private conversation."Immediately, the guard removed the device and destroyed it, cutting off all communication with the outside. "Now that we are alone," Franklin continued, "you're probably wondering what all of this is about."He waited for her to say something, but she remained silent."Max," he began again, "we've been watching you for some time now.Your exploits here in town have not gone unnoticed.We felt it was finally time for you to meet us so, we decided to smoke you out… hence the current situation."She still stood in silence, trying to figure out how to get the upper edge in the situation."You're very good at what you do.You've had trouble lately, but that aside, we have been impressed."

"Thanks for not letting my slip-ups influence you negatively," Max retorted sarcastically.Finally grasping the magnitude of the situation, she was now fully aware of the danger that the men posed.The more they spoke, the more of a threat the men became.

"You believe that all x-5's were designed to be only soldiers.Well…that is not necessarily true.The initial purpose of the project was to create soldiers who were leaders.In times of crisis the x-5's were to bring order.You had military training because that was important, but you were supposed to have more. -- We expected more.--Along with your feline parts, you have the combined DNA of some of the most gifted people in the world.That was to be harnessed."Franklin paused reflecting on the brilliance of the original project specifications.His pride was quickly replaced by disdain as he continued."However, that is not how it worked out.There were only two x-5's suitable for the full realization of the project…you and Zach.You two were the best of the x-5's from the beginning.As you grew older, we saw the dynamic that existed between you and your CO.It was then that it was decided what your purposes would be.You were to lead during times of peace allowing your compassion and humanity to guide you.Zach was to follow your lead and allow you to influence his military decisions.In times of war, you were to take direct orders from him because he was guided by logic and military training.However, because he was so influenced by you, you were to keep his actions in check.Together you two were to lead.That was your purpose until Lydecker decided that there weren't enough x-5 redundants capable of these specific functions."An unfathomable amount of spite entered his words at the mention of Lydecker."However, your specializations made you more valuable than the others and this threatened his power.He wanted leaders as well, but he wanted to be in control of them so he deviated from the specs.Creating highly focused soldiers allowed him to reach his goal.That way he could have all of you attuned to only his command.That was not the project we signed up for.It was not our agenda.As I said we expected more from our…contribution."Franklin was just about to continue, but noticed Max's lack of response."I see you need a moment to gather your thoughts."

"Only someone from Manticore," Max began in cold anger which quickly turned into blinding rage, "would have the unmitigated gall to consider torturing children a contribution worthy of recognition.Were you the ones who made us suffer the regeneration pains—cutting us apart and dosing us up with chemicals?What exactly should I be thanking you for?Please, tell me precisely why I'm going to enjoy kicking the shit out you."

"You won't touch us Max," Tisch replied.A condescending smirk had crossed his face.

"Really, and why is that?"

"You need us to help you bring down Lydecker," Franklin answered.A chill overtook Max at the mere thought putting an end to her own personal anti-Christ.Her emotions went from anger to morbid curiosity in a flash.She considered the fact that the men could be of use to her.She hid the emotional fluctuation as best she could. 

"Who exactly are you?" Her tone was cautious, half fearing their response.

"Finally she asks," Tisch quipped sardonically.He leaned forward in his chair and stared at her questioning face for a few moments prolonging the suspense.Then, he leaned back and chuckled."Well Daniel, tell her."

"Well Max…in the simplest of terms…we are your fathers."For the second time in as many days, she found herself speechless. 

Tisch jumped out of his chair and walked around the table. "Speechless," he said approaching her."I'm told that doesn't happen very often.What's wrong, no witty comeback to give you the upper hand?"He was right.She had nothing.

*******************************************************

OK so what did you think of her fathers?I loved writing this chapter.The suspense was killing even me and I knew what was going to happen.I just couldn't write it down fast enough.There is much more to come in chapter 5.Anyway, as always R&R please.


	6. 

Chapter 5

Title: Design

Author: aegean

E-mail: aegean11@hotmail.com

Genre: Story Angst, Romance, Action-- Max/Logan shippery

Rating: R

Summary: OK here it is.The conclusion..

Disclaimer:Dark Angel is a Fox /Cameron/Eglee vehicle.I get no money.I do it for fun/practicePlease don't sue me.

********Notes:Sorry this has taken so long.I intended to have it out sooner, but I was taking in the news of the engagement.I mean, how could Michael have let them announce it on my birthday.I needed to take a day to recover.Just Kidding.Best of Luck to the Happy couple!

Honestly, I spent so much time partying (roughly Friday-Monday) for my 22nd b-day, I didn't get the chance to proof this chapter until Tuesday night.I hope you like it.I just wanted to thank everyone who has read and reviewed.I get so excited to hear what people have to say.Please R&R.Good/Bad whatever.Advice.Anything works for me.

And now, without further ado…

Chapter 5

Father?

Logan didn't know what Max's status was when he was abruptly cut off.She could have been dead for all he knew, and it was killing him.To make matters worse, the streets were crawling with guards, and Bling was having a hard time evading them.They couldn't stay any longer, so they retreated back to Logan's penthouse to regroup and figure out what they were up against.He had to figure out what the connection was between Max and CFT.At this point, he could only think about Manticore.The number and skill of guards seemed to point him back in that direction.

He was still searching through old Manticore files when it happened.He was looking for any reference to CFT.It was going to be a last ditch effort since he couldn't figure out what the company could have to do with Manticore.He was sitting in the room with Bling when the computer finished its search.There on the screen in front of him was all he needed to know about it.

He knew he had seen the names before and there clear as day they were displayed on his screen.He had scanned hundreds of sub directories in his search for her siblings but there had been firewalls that he hadn't had time to break.The nature of this mission forced him to focus all his efforts on getting into those hidden directories and it paid off.He cross-referenced the data with all of Max's information and was now staring at a classified file named ZEUS.It contained a list of all the male donors for the x-5 project.They were broken into categories ranging from athletic prowess to heightened intelligence.The men, Robert Christianson-age 42, Daniel Franklin-age 36, and Geoffrey Tisch-age 16, were listed by order of age in the intelligence quotient category.Tisch was by far the superior, but they were all geniuses in their own right.

The attached psychological profile listed Christianson and Franklin as stable Type A personalities, with no noteworthy breeches in conduct. However, Tisch's file had been red flagged.Logan was disturbed by what he saw on the screen.

_Geoffrey Tisch_

_Donor X-5 series_

_Entered Manticore- age 14_

_IQ- 182_

_ _

_Assessment:_

_Displays an overdeveloped sense of self-worth, which often crosses into megalomania.Secondary personality disorders evident.Strong aversion to authority._

_ _

/They used a sixteen year-old boy as a donor?A child prodigy with delusions of grandeur reaching adulthood guided by Manticore values…my god.Lydecker probably wanted to adopt him./The rest of his profile had been encoded.Logan would have to worry about it later.

After a few more clicks of the mouse, he found the information he had been half expecting and half dreading.Christianson and Franklin were donors for the X-3, X-4, and X-5 series.Tisch had only participated as an X-5 donor due to his recruitment date.Logan continued to cross-reference the names with all X-5 barcode numbers.Three were a match, Jace, an unidentified X-5 male, and Max.He had final confirmation, and, in that moment, Logan knew that Max was somewhere alone in a room with her fathers.

**************************************

Max had never had an actual father.She still didn't, but for an instant felt more human being able to see the people she came from.No longer just a mixture of a few random cats and some other ingredients.

"Well," Tisch continued, "perhaps we should continue despite her shock."

"I'm not in shock, I'm just reassessing the situation," she said straightforwardly."You have five minutes before I turn and walk out of here…and father or not, I will go through you if I have to."

"Then we'll get to the point," Franklin began."To the best of our knowledge, you and Jace are all we have.The process that was used to enhance and harvest our 'material', rendered us sterile."He paused."We believe that was Lydecker's doing.So…we've come to claim what is ours."

"Claim me?"One could almost see the waves of anger rise from her brow."No one claims me."

"We want you to come with us," Christianson said speaking for the first time."Living outside of Manticore has actually brought you and Zach closer to our vision of the project.He protects you and makes decisions in your best interest and you keep him in line."

"Enough Robert," Tisch was curt.He had been standing with arms crossed a few feet away staring at her and gauging every reaction."I believe Max wants us to cut to the chase...so I will."He began to circle her as he spoke."We want you to finally realize your design and restore order—admittedly no small task.But, with you and Zach together, we can surely get the other x-5's to assist.You'll start by returning stability to the larger metropolitan areas.Once they're under control again, we can radiate out from there.It will be difficult, but it is within your capabilities."

"You must be out of your mind to think I would help you.And Zach would sooner kill you than take part in this.He'd never have anything to do with people associated with Manticore."She had tried to sound convincing in veiled refusal, but deep down inside she knew that she wanted to hear more-- and not only just for a full disclosure of their plan.

"Zach will come if you come," Franklin answered."And as for wanting nothing to do with Manticore, well… Zach is Manticore."There was enough merit to his statement to worry her.She had to be very careful with any response.

"Even if that were true," she began slowly, "the others won't fall in line."Max knew there was truth in what he had said, but never wanted to admit it.Manticore was deeply ingrained within Zach

"They were trained well," Franklin countered. "If you two convince them of it, they will come to understand that it _is_ a prudent decision."

"It seems you've accounted for everything," Max said as she paced before he fathers."Unfortunately you're relying on the false assumption that I would want to set everything in motion?And don't rely on altruism."At last, she thought she had taken the upper hand.

"True," Tisch replied."We assumed you would want something.Based on your deal with Eyes Only, we figure the information we're willing to provide about Manticore, your mother, your exact genetic code…yeah that should about do the trick."Max tried to hide the shock that crossed her face, but failed."Don't look so surprised…we know that Logan is Eyes Only."He walked behind her and brushed the hair off of her shoulder, revealing her barcode."Barcodes, brilliant idea don't you think Robert?"Christianson said nothing.Tisch let her hair fall."Where was I, ah, you and Logan.You two have a very interesting relationship."His eyes darted to Franklin."What did you call it Daniel…oh yes… mutually beneficial.Don't worry we approve of him.But his cause…now that's something we're going to have to discuss."

"Thanks dads.All my life I've been searching for parental approval.Hell today I get that and I find my purpose in life.It's been a busy day wouldn't you say."

"Ahhhh… the sarcasm has returned.I was wondering where it went."Tisch countered.His knowledge of her personality traits made her uncomfortable."But back to the point," he began as he turned to lean against the table,"we will bring down Manticore for you.We could have done it by now, but its existence affords us a certain leverage over our children."

"Holding your children's lives as leverage…that's really very paternal."She paced again.She had learned enough in the past few days to know that they were probably in the position to follow through with their offer."How would you do it," Max asked minutes later after considering her options.She had spent so much time trying to eliminate Manticore, and even though the personal price was extremely high in this instance, she had to consider their offer.

"We spent twenty years inside Max, we know all of its secrets.If you take down Lydecker, you remove all the drive behind the institution.It can't survive without his agenda driving it."

"So I follow your agenda and you destroy Lydecker's?Is that it?"

"Not exactly," Franklin began."We can't have your loyalties torn between two lives.If you come with us, we will do as we promise, but you must cut all other ties.We know that they have gotten you into trouble before.You must be prepared to lead without interference.You must give up the life you have lead here."

"Leave for good—you sound like Zach.Same damn tag line."

"Then he would be right—you have to leave Seattle and Logan," Franklin responded knowing full well what her hesitation signified."He may be a good man, but his crusade often times conflicts with our plans.Your ties are to be to Zach."His last words held as much conviction as any order from Lydecker.Max waited for more, but Franklin seemed to be finished.They were now waiting in eerie silence for her answer.

Her eyes were locked intensely on a spot on the floor as she took some time to run scenarios through her head.Not all of them were bad.She would be with family and she would be helping people everywhere./Damn him for giving me a sense of civic responsibility./"I need time."She hadn't meant to say it, but her resolve had weakened.She didn't want to admit it to herself, but she was intrigued by the proposal.However, before any decisions were made, she had to see Logan.

"The offer expires at eleven a.m. tomorrow." The others looked at Franklin with surprise, they had wanted an answer immediately.However, he knew that pressing Max was the fastest route to a flat refusal. "Let her through," he said as he signaled the guards blocking the door.

--

It was four in the morning when Max left the company of her fathers.It took an hour to get back to the penthouse, due to the quick stop she made to check in on Cindy.Everything was alright.

Max walked into Logan's apartment and found Bling at the computer.He was continuing to research while Logan rested.Max walked in and tapped Bling's shoulder.His body whipped around in surprise.It took him a few seconds to shake it off before he realized who it was.He hugged her."You should go back to your place for some sleep tonight.Everything's under control till morning."He broke the embrace and looked at her."Come back then…he may need you."There were so many questions to be asked, but he read her eyes and realized he should leave it alone.He put his gun in its holster, grabbed his jacket, and left.

Max took a look around the penthouse before going to Logan's bedroom.He was lying in bed with a sheet draped over his legs and his back partially pressed against the wall.Without a word, she climbed beneath the sheets next to his warm body.For the first time all evening, she felt she was in the place where she belonged.She started to touch his chest, first with her hands, then with her lips.The sensation roused him from his sleep forcing him to open his eyes.He looked down to find the woman he loved safely nestled against him. He gently stroked her hair and she brought her body higher onto his and locked eyes with him.She lightly brushed her fingertips along his hairline and removed his glasses, resting them on the nightstand.He opened his mouth in an attempt to speak but was successfully silenced by a single finger as it crossed his lips.He understood and pulled her face closer, kissing her with the force of months of pent up emotion.

She held him tightly, needing the full weight of his body to fall against hers.After some time, she rolled on top of him and slowly began to kiss his chest again.Her hair falling against him sent a wave of shivers down his spine.A sensation Logan never grew tired of.He took both hands and ran them beneath her shirt, removing it in a single fluid motion.Max quickly found the waistline of his boxers, and copying his movements, removed them with equal dexterity.The fear of injury, which had existed only days before, had been forgotten.

Logan turned to be above her one last time removing the skintight black pants she wore.Only a thin piece of material now separated them.He looked into her eyes and placed his hand on the waistband of her panties and without breaking eye contact, slowly began to remove them.She arched her back for him.When that was done, she pulled his body in for a kiss, wrapped her legs around him, and was above him once and for all.They groped for each other in the darkness.Her hand grasped his back so tightly, her fingertips left a whitened impression on his flush skin.

They made love aware of little else but the others touch.Never once breaking contact, no questions were asked.The ever present element of fear that act carried with it had been forgotten.She went first, followed shortly by him.At the fateful moment, he pulled her down against his chest and held her tightly, and there they remained, listening to every sound the other made --connected on every level.Breathing in rhythm unwilling to separate for fear that it would signal the end.Neither knew whether it was to be their last time.Max hadn't made a decision, and Logan without knowing the details knew she had no answers.So for that night, they decided to let all questions go, refusing to risk what could be their last chance to be together.They fell asleep in each others arms.

When Logan woke in the morning, he turned to where Max should have been lying, knowing that she was gone.

--

Max arrived at CFT five minutes to eleven without a decision.There were no guards in sight.She entered the building climbing slowly to the third floor.The doors were open and the three men were waiting.When she walked through the threshold, the doors were closed behind her.

"Sleep well," Tisch remarked snidely as he sat on the boardroom table.

"Geoffrey, stop," Franklin said interceding."Max, its time."

"I know," she said.

"Well?"

"You've made me an offer that I had to consider.Re-unite with my brothers and sisters, destroy Deck, stop running…It's rather tempting when you lay it out like that."He cadence was irritatingly slow.

"Yes, to the point," snapped Tisch.

"But why would I trade one overbearing father figure for three.At least I know what I'm up against with Lydecker, but you guys…well Deck always said 'know your enemy' and I have no idea what you're gonna want from me later."

"So, _Logan_ does mean more to you than understanding your design and being with the others?"It was Franklin's turn to manipulate her now.

"Logan is not my weakness.I suggest you stop trying to use him.As for the others…just give us time, we'll figure out a way to be together.This is about you three and the tactics I've already seen you employ to get what you want.In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, I can't even believe I gave you the five minutes yesterday.Nothing that was said could have really convinced me."She absorbed each stare individually.Christianson and Franklin seemed to be easing off, but Tisch met her eye to eye without moving so much as a muscle.

When he realized that she wasn't going to break, a grin crept across his face."You do realize that we have enough information on Logan to destroy him.He'd be dead in a week.Better yet we could just put him back in the chair.He'd off himself."She didn't flinch, and holding her ground, she returned his grin.

"I see you like to throw threats around.Well here's one for you.If anything even looks like its about to come down on Logan, you'll be dead in a day.Somehow I don't think Deck knows about your current status…ie. you're still breathing.He wouldn't have just let you out of Manticore, which tells me he probably thinks you're dead.That can be changed."

Franklin rose from his seat and placed his hands firmly on the table."You do realize what you're giving up."

"I realize what you wanted me to give up.You know, if your agenda conflicts with Logan's crusade, then it was flawed from the start.You know what I'm leaving now.I've said my piece and quite frankly, I've had enough."She turned to leave.

"Let's not worry gentlemen, Jace should be more willing to join us.After all, she's ours as well Max.Perhaps not as perfect as you, but she could be useful and her condition will certainly make her more easily swayed."

"Not likely."She wasn't completely certain, but hoped Jace would see through the offer as she had.

"There's always Zach."Tisch knew exactly which buttons to push because she stopped near the doors but didn't turn to look at him."We may be able to offer him a good enough reason to come with us.We can help him understand the draw he has to you.We'll be there to tell him it's alright to want you."She headed for the doors again and stopped right in front of them./Zach wouldn't…would he.No he's too smart for that. They're obviously desperate and pulling at straws.Just keep going Max./She just shook her head, opened the doors, and walked away.

--

Max slowly made her way back to the penthouse.She had no idea what she would find there.She hoped Logan would still be asleep.At least that way, she could avoid an explanation.But, for some reason she knew that this would not be the case.

She stood in the hallway outside of his apartment and pressed her ear to the door.She needed to know what to expect.She was scared that he wouldn't understand.She didn't know whether she had done irreparable damage to their relationship and wasn't really ready to find out.So, instead of walking through the door she doubled back and left the building.She climbed up to the adjacent roof to look inside of his apartment.From her vantage point she wasn't able to see Logan inside.She wasn't even sure that he was actually home.She waited for a while and then decided to go in.

She jumped in through the skylight and landed in his living room.Her movements had been effortlessly silent.She rose from her crouched landing."I thought you'd gone."Max spun around to see Logan sitting his couch.He was working on something that she couldn't see.He didn't even look up at her when she spoke.

"I did.I'm back now."His presence had startled her and the words just poured from the void of her mind.She realized that she couldn't see him because his head had been partially obscured by the wall.When he spoke to her he had been so withdrawn.For a moment, she thought things were over between them.His withdrawn nature seemed to point in that direction.

"For good?"He was still unable to look her in the eye.Logan's intent was not to be callous but, he knew he wouldn't be able to keep himself together if her answer was 'no'.

"Yeah."

Her words were the shock that started his heart beating again.He realized he had been holding his breath waiting for her answer.He finally sighed and the remaining tension in his body was lifted."How do your fathers feel about that?"He looked up as he spoke and then waited for a response.

All at once, a wave of confusion and relief passed through her.She realized that he knew, at least in theory, what had happened.She allowed herself to take her first deep breath since entering the room."Like you'd expect, tantrums…threats."She slowly moved toward the coffee table in front of him and sat down.He watched her every movement."When did you find out?"

"Late last night."

"You could've told me you knew."

"No I couldn't—and not just because you didn't give me the chance.When you can back last night, you obviously didn't want to talk about it.It was then that I knew that whatever happened in that room with them was going to be your decision and yours alone….and probably for the first time in my life I truly respected that.I knew you'd make the best choice possible and that one way or another you'd deal with them.Besides, you already knew what I'd say.No point in making things harder for you on this end."

Her head slowly fell as all the emotion that had been stored within her body drained.Logan moved the pad of paper laying it to his side.He leaned forward and brushed the hair out of her face.

"You have a remarkable amount of faith in my decisions."It sounded sarcastic, but he knew that she really meant it.He smiled and took her hand.They sat in silence for quite a while.

"So, Logan…I gotta ask…explosives?"

"One of us had to.You hate guns and bombs, but they are a necessary evil.I figured that would just have to be my department."His voice took on a momentary element of detached coldness.She just silently nodded in understanding, knowing that he was thinking about the blood bath in Cape Haven.He pulled her onto the couch and wrapped his arm around her.He had spoken about it only once, accepting the fact that what he did needed to be done.However, in the weeks following, Max would often times find him staring at his gun. 

"So, are you worried about what'll come next week…hell, what'll come tomorrow for that matter," Logan asked.

"Yeah.It was some pretty heavy stuff that went down.They made it clear that this wasn't the end."She stared off into the wall beyond Logan."I…we're gonna have to find the others…find Zach, and warn them.There's gonna be a lot for us to do."He smiled when he heard her words.It was the first time she had actively included him in any of her missions as something more than a passive information gatherer.He began to get up.He had every intention of starting the research at that moment, but a hand reached out and pulled him back."But…it'll have to wait until tomorrow."

Max fell asleep in Logan's arms while he gently stroked her hair.A half hour later Logan drifted off.While they slept, the Seattle skyline darkened and it began to rain.The first several claps of thunder made her restless.She finally opened her eyes and looked at Logan.Her movement roused him from sleep and he caught her staring.

"What?"

"You knew that I might have left for good and you said nothing.You would've just let me go."

"Never Max."He shifted his body to face her."I probably should have told you this sooner.Do you remember the week that we were apart after that banquet?Remember how we fought?"She nodded."Well sometime during that week, I realized that I had to get my act together and fast because I didn't want to waste anymore time without you.I knew we were going to be together no matter what.I like to believe its one of those truths in life that I'd just rather not argue with.Everything that had happened before the fight, led me to that conclusion and everything that has happened since has only confirmed it."

"You could've told me all this back then.As I recall, I was the one that came to you first with my feelings."She relaxed back into his arms.

"Yeah, that's true, but I still think that back in the day, that level of resoluteness coming from me would've scared the hell outta you.I mean lets face it, I've always been the more emotionally stable one in this relationship.I could handle my epiphany…you seemed to need to take things slow after we made up."She rolled her eyes in utter disbelief and tried to hit him with a sofa pillow, but he blocked the attack.He laughed and she followed suit.It was the Logan Cale standard method of lightening the mood.

"But seriously Max," he said after settling down, "if we're ever forced to part, I will always be with you."He pulled out the pad of paper that was now wedged into the couch and handed it to her."And you will always be with me."Tears welled up in her eyes when she saw what was there.

OK so this is the end.I've left it like this because hopefully you guys know what was on the paper that would make him say that to her. Hint ;) Hint;)OK…So my real question (cue dramatic music--dum dum dum)Should I write a sequel?I have an idea rolling around in my head and I'm beginning to flesh it out on paper.I have the story arc in my head.But, I want to know if I should just leave this story alone.Let me know.Thanks to everyone who has reviewed.The support is really important.They make me go over the story over and over again until its good enough to show to others.Thanks again and please review.

**** **Special thanks to**

pepper2, jiwon, and kaiyen.I wanted to say thank you to my friends for my b-day present.They printed out this story on nice paper and had it bound for me.It looks so good.So I just wanted to thank them here.


End file.
